


Hyphen

by Dermonster



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-29 04:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dermonster/pseuds/Dermonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After evading capture on Hoenn route 102, a curious Ralts picks up a discarded pokeball. Curiosity is a dangerous beast indeed, and infiltrating the human world is no less risky. But for the sake of her home and her inquisitiveness, she will do whatever it takes to rise above the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning

 

It was a warm and sunny day in the region of Hoenn. Route 102 was abuzz as the various critters that inhabited the stretch of road and surrounding forest went about their normal activities. The Surskit skidded across the surface of a nearby pond, nabbing bits of algae from around the Lotad. Seedot of all sizes littered the tree branches, soaking in the sun as Wurmple ate the leaves.

On the path proper, a pack of Poochyena pursued a panicked Zigzagoon. Nearby, a Ralts looked upon the confrontation. Seeing an opening as the Zigzagoon fled in the direction away from her, she sped across the trail to the other set of trees. Hiding, she listened carefully as the howls of the hunting pack faded into the distance. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Ralts moved forward.

Poking her head out onto the parallel trail, she spotted a young human much farther down the path attempting to pull a Seedot from a branch. She giggled as she watched the human futilely jump up and miss the Seedot, who was hanging out of reach. Spotting no other apparent threats with him being occupied by the acorn pokemon, Ralts moved across the trail. Lighting up upon spotting her goal, she darted towards a fruiting Oran berry bush.

Closing in, she swiftly examined the plant for signs of disease or rot. Finding none, Ralts unfurled a large leaf and began piling berries into a small pile, singing a small tune. After a few moments, she tied the leaf into a small pouch containing the Oran and turned homeward.

"...Don't they? Please help me do it properly. …Whoa!"

Ralts nearly dropped her bag. To her immediate right, having walked up while she was distracted, were two humans. Two humans that were staring directly at her.

"R- ralts?" she said, plaintively.

"All right, I have to weaken it first, yes?" he said, turning to the other, who nodded. "Go, Zigzagoon!" He shouted, tossing a red and white ball into the air. The ball snapped open at the top of its arc, releasing a shining light that darted to the ground.

"Zig! Zigzagoon!" the light stated, resolving into the shape of the raccoon pokemon. Ralts dropped the berries, backing up.

"Alright, Zigzagoon, tackle them!" the green-haired boy commanded, and Zigzagoon darted forward in response. Caught by surprise, Ralts could only stand still and take it straight on.

"Raaa..." she cried, as the Zigzagoon impacted with her small frame, flinging her against a tree. Struggling to her feet, she could see the human reaching toward his pocket.

"You throw a ball now, right? I… I'll do my best!" the boy said, taking aim with another sphere of red and white.

"Wait, it's not quite-" the other said, but the ball had already left his hand.

Ralts stared at the ball heading straight for her. With a cry of pure panic, she threw herself upon the ground, narrowly missing the ball flying above her, which ricocheted off the tree and flew deep into the forest.

"I missed? Oh no, that was my only ball!"

"Don't worry, you can use one of— it’s running away!" The other shouted, pointing at the pokemon.

Ralts had stood up and fled into the trees while they were distracted. Rushing past a couple trunks, she sidled behind one and sat down against it, scared and a little bruised. She listened closely for sounds of pursuit, but heard none. After a few moments she timidly peered around the trunk, spotting the duo through gaps in the trees.

"Aww... Should we grab the pokeball?"

"Nah, I have tons. You'll do better next time.” Patting the boy on the shoulder, the human suddenly pointed away. “Look, there's a Poochyena! They're cool; let's go grab one."

"Alright..."

They walked further along the trail, and then out of sight. A minute passed; when Ralts was sure they weren't coming back, she stood up and walked back to pick up her berries.

A shiny flash caught her eye. To her right was the red and white ball the boy had thrown at her, resting in the grass. She approached it cautiously and when it didn't react, she nudged it. It failed to move. Curiosity overtaking her, she picked up the ball.

It was divided into two hemispheres of red and white with a black stripe marking a border between the two. There was a white button in the border of the red and white halves. Poking it, she jerked back when the ball shrank down to the size of a tiny berry, falling onto the forest floor. A little wary, she took a second before picking it back up again. She hit the button again and it expanded to its original size. Another press, and it shrank again. She pondered the sphere, resting easily in her hands.

Ralts went back to retrieve her fallen berries, mind wandering. This ball… she knew this ball. She had hoped to never see it. But now that she had, she couldn’t help but to ask, how did it work? Who were these people who created and used these devices? Adding the tiny ball to the leaf bundle, she dashed back across the paths and continued on home.


	2. Home

South of Route 102, through the forests and past where any mundane explorer would search, there was a clearing. In the center of the clearing was a fire pit, still smoldering. On the edges were small hollows built into the trees and little shelters made of discarded branches packed tight and tied with vines. Nestled deep in the wood, this is where the Ralts live.

And what a welcome sight it was to our intrepid berry collector, as the sight of the small community came into view. Grinning tiredly, and freed from having to dodge roaming packs of Poochyena, she rushed forward toward the nearby sentry sitting on a stump, one of the elder Kirlia in the camp.

"Hey! I'm back!" Ralts shouted. Kirlia looked up from a small drawing in the dirt and smiled.

"Hey, you made it back. How goes it? Looks like you made a good haul there." Kirlia asked, leaning against the remnants of the bark. His spear, made of a branch and a piece of sharp rock, rested idle at his side.

"Um." Ralts said as she moved up to the stump. "I had a little encounter, but I'm fine."

"Oh?" Said the Kirlia, sitting up straighter. "Was it a Poochyena? Did it follow you? I don't really want to use my spear today." Kirlia peered into the forest behind Ralts.

"No! No, it uh, it wasn't a Poochyena." Ralts said, shifting uncomfortably.

Kirlia tilted his head. "Hm. Alright then. Better get those to the cave. It's hot, and the longer they stay out the worse. Your grandfather is making that fruit spread today, I think."

Ralts tilted her head, surprised. "Oh! Is it that time already?"

Kirlia nodded. "Yeah. Didn't you notice on your way out?"

"I hadn't realized. It was so sunny out..."

"Yeah, I can understand that. It's too nice to pay attention indoors, isn't it? Prime weather for a Poochyena attack!" Grinning suddenly, he stood up and twirled his spear before embedding the blunt end into the ground. "But have no fear, I shall stand guard over this entrance and make sure no mangy mutt even gets near!" He proclaimed. The guard was gratified when Ralts giggled, before she headed into the village proper. "Be safe!" He called, returning to his stump.

Ralts slowly made her way into the village, absorbed in her thoughts. _'What do I do with this thing...'_ She glanced at her bag, where a momentary flash of red came into sight. She hadn't ever seen a human that close up before. Technically speaking, she wasn't even supposed to go near the trails. Large open spaces were very easy to get spotted in, but the biggest berries grew there as well. _'What is it even for? They were trying to hit me with it, but...'_

She glanced at a small gathering of very young Ralts in a rough circle around an older Kirlia. _"-ck and snow, fell into a deep dark hole~ Rust, rock and snow, bothered us no more~"_ The little ones sang, only slightly out of harmony. It was an ancient rhyme passed down by the mothers. Ralts had sang it herself long ago.

"One more time!" said the watcher. "Follow along now. _Once long ago, on a mountain peak high; there lived a giant with seven eyes wide_ ~"

Moving on, she quickly passed the few other scattered Ralts that scurried to and fro, making full use of the sunny weather. Three stood at the edge of a river that passed through a corner, ready with spears. With a sharp jerk and a "Ha!", one thrust her spear into the water. Gripping the weapon tight, she pulled back, a Magikarp impaled on the end of the pole. "Yeah!" She cheered, taking the fish off the spike and running over to the fire pit.

Soon enough though, our Ralts came across a rather large boulder. At the base of the boulder was a hole large enough for a Pokemon to walk through, covered by a doorway made of knotted vines. Ducking under the vines, she made her way into the cave beyond and below. Inside the cavern was a large pile of various dried berries and clay jars filled with juice or aged fruit spread. The walls were covered with quite a few drawings, and scattered around the cave and deeper within it were a few wooden chairs. Peering into an opened clay jar, Magikarp bone brush in hand, was a positively ancient Kirlia working on a drawing. Wrinkles had formed all over his pale face, and his hair had turned a rather bright whiteish green, though his red eyes were as sharp as ever.

Ralts started to move forward but hesitated, glancing at her bag. The small red and white sphere peeked out from the blue fruit. _'I should hide this. Maybe I can ask him about it secretly?'_ Moving silently, she took the ball out and stuck it behind a couple of pots by the door. "Gramps!" She called out. "I'm back with more berries!" Hopping down a couple natural steps, she made her way to her grandfather.

The elderly Kirlia looked up from his work and grinned. "Ah, good, good. We can never have enough berries, I say. Any trouble?" He asked, noticing a bruise.

"It's nothing, don't worry." Ralts muttered, sitting down nearby. Unfurling the bag, she placed the pile of Oran before the dried berry stock. "Just a branch that snapped back too hard."

"Ah. You should be more careful. One stray twig and you could lose an eye." Gramps said, turning his attention to the fruit. "Oh my, what a nice find! They don't usually grow this large." Picking up a berry, he examined it carefully and then held it over a fresh pot. Grinning, he concentrated. His horns shimmered with a blue light and the berry was summarily crushed, releasing a large spurt of juice into the container. "Ahaha! Yes, you picked some good ones here! We'll have many fresh new jars by the looks of it!" Gramps beamed at Ralts. "Looks like we'll have a few extra as well, for the paint. Do you want to practice crushing a few?"

Ralts ducked her head, completely distracted from her earlier thoughts. "Really? It didn't go that well last time..."

"Hey, do not worry. I accepted your apology and my eye does not have seeds in it anymore. Come, give it a try." He pulled a berry from the pile and held it out.

"Alright, alright" Smiling, she took the proffered berry. Holding it in her palms, she concentrated. The manipulation of her innate psychic energy was still new to Ralts, and it showed. The berry was encased in a flickering blue glow, and slowly rose a few inches above her hands. Not diverting her attention from the berry, she carefully grabbed the jar out of her grandfathers hands. Carefully positioning it under the berry, she gave the berry a mental squeeze.

The berry promptly exploded, covering the nearby area with pulp. Ralts shrieked in surprise, wiping at her face to get errant fluid out of her eyes. Gramps merely laughed, holding a small mass of berry remnants in front of his face. "A bit too much force and too little direction, I think." He deposited the mass into the jar, then knelt down to wipe the juice off Ralts face. Ralts wringed her hands together, embarrassed.

"Eh, sorry..." She mumbled, fidgeting as juice dribbled down her head.

"It is no worry, my dear. Everyone learns the same way, by making a giant mess of things. You are no different." Gramps smiled, and rubbed the last of the juice off. "You merely have to learn how to make a smaller mess. And then a smaller one. Eventually you begin to not have a mess at all, and become talented." He lifted three Oran over his own pot, and squished them all into liquid simultaneously, all shooting straight into the clay container.

"So, in order to get good, I have to be bad?" Ralts asked, slightly confused.

"Heh. Little one, being bad at something is merely the first step to being good at it. I didn't just wake up one day and paint the sun and sky." He waved at the ceiling, where images of the sun, moon and sky were rendered in plant essence. "It took much time and many mistakes before I could do such a thing. It is the same with controlling your abilities."

"Oh." Ralts looked at the ceiling and then back at the remnants of the berry. "So, I'll just keep trying until I get it right?"

"That's the spirit!" The elderly Kirlia sat back at her chair. Berries began to gently float from the leaf and get crushed, one after the other. "Just keep trying, you'll become better every time!"

Ten Oran floated down in front of Ralts. She looked at her grandpa, and back at the berries. Frowning, she lifted one up, positioned her container and gave it another squeeze, lighter this time. The berry ripped, dripping a little but not fully crushed. Ralts scowled. Another push, and the berry successfully shot its liquid straight at the far wall. Sighing, she left the berry on the pile and picked another.

Half an hour and many berries later the immediate area was surrounded with berry juice and she was wiping fluids off her face again, but she had gotten some into the pot itself; more as a byproduct of exploding fruit than any real marksmanship. Giving a loud grumble, Ralts leaned back against the chair. Having run out of berries, she watched her grandfather make a jar of sweet spread. It was a special type of jelly that they knew how to make out of a medley of berries.

Her thoughts eventually wandered away from her recent failure to her encounter in the forest. She glanced back at the door where she had hid the ball. "Hey Grandpa?" She asked. "What do you know about humans?"

"Humans?" The aged Kirlia looked up from his work. "Humans... Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, uh. I kinda... saw one in the forest."

"Did you? You shouldn't be wandering anywhere near them. Hopefully it was just an explorer, and not a trainer or hunter." He set his container aside, focusing on the conversation.

"A trainer?"

"Heh. You never really payed attention when I told you before, did you? All right, it's a good a time as any. If you've seen one this far in, there's bound to be more skulking about." He telekinetically lifted a few dried Pecha from the pile of fruit and set three in Ralt's grasp. He ate one of his own, humming. "So, Humans. Trainers, hunters, researchers... What did you want to know, specifically?"

"Well... what is a trainer?"

"Mmm. A trainer is a specific type of human who goes around and capturing the creatures of the wild."

"Like a hunter?"

He shook his head. "Not quite. Where a Hunter would kill an animal for food, trainers use these little round devices and throw them at a weakened animal. The device takes in the animal and the trainer takes the creature with them."

 _'So if I had been a bit slower, I would be living with a human?'_ She rolled this thought around. "Why would they do that?"

"Well..." Gramps rubbed his chin. "I think that humans want them for companionship. Trainers seem to enjoy comparing the strength of their companions in battle." He leaned forward. "You see, trainers are very respected in their world, and the greater the trainer, the more influence they have."

Ralts glanced back at her hidden item. "So... The best trainer is like a king?"

"Not... quite as such, I don't think. To be honest, I'm not completely sure." He shrugged. "I've only overheard bits and pieces from eavesdropping on the trails. Not uh, not that you should be going anywhere near there." he started, looking a little embarrassed.

"I know, I know..."

"It's really important that we don't get discovered." Gramps stressed. "There aren't any other colonies of Ralts anywhere else, to my knowledge. The last thing we need is a bunch of humans coming here from all over the place sniffing around our village."

Ralts blinked. "All over the place? You mean, like across the ocean and beyond the forests?"

"Eh?" Kirlia scratched his head. "Well, yes I suppose. There are humans all over the continent, and I imagine the trainers have to go all over the place to challenge each other. It hardly concerns us, though."

"Oh wow." _'All over the world? I've never even gone past the trails...'_ Strange fragments of thought began forming in Ralts' mind. These humans... _'Who are they? How do they live?'_ she wanted to ask, but she knew she wouldn't get a good answer. Her grandfather was the wisest person she knew, but he wouldn't know everything. Not from just listening at the trails.

"Hm?" He began, noting her silence. "Was that all?"

"Oh, yes." She said, jumping off her seat. "Sorry, I was getting hungry. I saw someone catch a magikarp earlier, I'm going to go get some." Moving toward the entrance, she gave a glance at the hiding spot.

"Alright. Take care then, be back before dark! I'll have to talk to the guards... Humans, Hm." He muttered, grabbing more berries.

 _'It's probably safe for now.'_ She decided, and headed out the door. The sun hit her like a rock, the heat becoming much more apparent at just past noon.

Determined, she strode straight through the village, past the fire pit, and out the gate. "Oh hey, out again?" called the guard. Ralts gave a half hearted wave and strode on without a word, ignoring him. A burning feeling floated around her head, driven by the strange object and her new information.

There was a human city to the north-west. Maybe finding out more would put her mind at rest.


	3. Adventure

It had been barely an hour since Ralts had left the village, and already she had passed the nebulous boundary of where she was allowed to go. The forest was changing, trees were starting to thin out little by little and wild creatures had steadily become less frequent.

Not for the first time she wondered if this was a bad idea. Heading directly into a human stronghold, where any number of trainers were hiding about. If she made one wrong step, one wrong move, she could be caught. It went against every lesson she had been taught, and yet...

And yet there was some sort of inexplicable _thrill_. Similar to when she first saw a human on the trail, but magnified tenfold. To instinctively know that what might come next would be dangerous, but paradoxically wonderful as well. She looked toward the sun, finding it still before noon. It shouldn't be that much farther-

Clearing a barren hill, she stopped cold. Scattered around the landscape in the far distance were structures unlike anything she had ever seen. Most were taller than the trees and colored not unlike the various pebbles in the river, and squared in shape with a big flat one standing out at the center. Many had sloped roofs of bright color with tan colored walls. Spaced regularly along the surfaces of many of them, she saw... mirrors? The light of the sun glinted off of them and into her eyes. Ralts blinked. The only mirror she had ever encountered was a small, cracked thing owned by a berry picker who had found it half buried in the forest. It had been strange, akin to looking into a fractured pond.

Among the buildings were humans. Overcome with a sudden bout of paranoia, Ralts gave an 'eek' and dropped to the ground. A quarter of a second later she peeked up. Not spotting any alerted bands of hunters or trainers bearing down at her, she felt rather embarrassed. She peered at the little dots of life visible around the buildings. The number of people and the size of the city was amazing. The concentration of beings outnumbered her home fivefold, yet there was so much space it felt a little empty. They moved to and fro, heading about their day with nary a bumped elbow.

Ralts had to get a closer look. To her left she spotted a patchwork line of large bushes and trees that lead down, with only a few open spaces between. Backing behind the hill, she made it to the line with no trouble and darted down the hill in the shadow of the foliage.

The line of trees led straight by a smaller building on the far outskirts. The walls were very tall, and above a few stacked wooden boxes was one of the mirrors inset into it. There was no movement, but muffles noises emanated from the structure. Spotting nothing immediately alarming, she moved forwards. Climbing on the crates, she looked into the mirror only to find it wasn't a mirror at all, but a window.

It was completely clear and she had a perfect view inside the building, which she quickly re-identified as a house. There were so many things inside it was hard to take in. Amazingly crafted furniture, wooden floors, figurines of creatures she had never seen, a miniature star on the ceiling with three rotating blades attached, still images of a few humans scattered around, plants in pots, books, a _human that was lookingrightather-_

Ralts almost bashed her chin on the ledge of the window as she shot downwards in panic. Heart hammering in her chest, she froze and awaited the expected outcry of the human. A few seconds passed before she realized that no response was forthcoming. Hesitantly, she uncurled and peeked over the edge. The human wasn't looking at her, but rather it was like she was looking at everything in front of her in general.

Also she was in a little elevated box, and appeared to be severed at the waist. It dawned on Ralts that it was a picture. A moving picture, nonetheless. She stared at it for a second before she realized that it was talking as well. Was this a human creation? It wasn't anything like telepathy, how had they done it? There was nobody else in the room, had they left?

"-Mossdeep Space Center has announced plans to launch it's first manned mission to the moon later this year." Said the blue haired lady. Behind her stood a tall yellow-green building. A large white construct loomed beyond even that. Ralts leaned in, fascinated. "Using data gathered from the Porygon-M rovers, the brave astronauts and scientists will land on the moon to facilitate the first ever Lunar research base. An exciting time for all of us."

Ralts nearly fell off the crate. _'They did **what**!?'_

"Indeed,-" The screen had switched to show a black haired man. "I wish them the best of luck. In other news, Gym Leader Jeffrey Moore of Lavaridge has retired from his position-"

The sound of a _ding_ from inside the house sent her scrambling again. She hid below the edge for several minutes, hearing a succession of very faint sounds and footsteps followed by a mild clatter, a squeaky groan, and a sigh. Risking a peek, she saw that an actual human had sat on the cushioned seat directly below her. He appeared to be fairly old, brown haired and light of skin, dressed in a baggy garment. A bowl of what appeared to be steamed white vines covered in some type of sauce and meat on the table. He reached over to some type of device on the table, and suddenly it was much harder to make out what the person on the screen was saying.

Ralts watched this for a few seconds, marveling at the food and the odd way of eating. _'I wonder what that shiny thing is. Is something wrong with his hands?'_ There didn't appear to be anything out of place there. He looked to be twisting the pieces around it and picking them up. She stared at her own hands, still stained purple, and then back. _'Maybe it's so you don't have to touch it? Humans must really like to be clean.'_

The human suddenly looked around, and she spotted a frown on his face before she once more ducked beneath the sill. A few seconds passed before he settled back down. A bout of paranoia? This was getting perilous. _'I should move on before he spots me.'_ , she decided, and descended her platform.

Circling around front, she noted a flowerbed and a strange wheeled contraption chained to a fence. More importantly, a road that looked to lead directly into the city. Ralts glanced at the sun once more. Few questions had been answered, many more had arisen. What was a Gym leader? What was that animated box, and how did it work? What kind of weird food was that? And... and they were going to put people on the moon?

As she started down the road, she felt that answers were going to become a lot more difficult to find. Strangely, she was okay with that.


	4. Encounter

The city was big from a distance. Up close, it was _enormous._ There had been nobody on the path to the house on the outskirts, but that had rapidly changed the further she went in. The buildings looked imposing and strange this close up, and some had darkened windows that she couldn't see through, though she avoided them when possible as a precaution. People had become increasingly common as she traveled further in, necessitating more subtle movements.

Ralts waited patiently, hidden in a shrub at a narrow intersection, houses behind and the city ahead. There were a few too many humans walking through to move safely. Absentmindedly, she reached out and touched a curl of black material that circled the line of bushes she was in. Smooth, shiny and bendy too. Was this plastic? She had only seen it made into bottles. Why was it in the dirt around a plant? She glanced behind her and observed a row of flowers at the foot of a house. She had never seen a purple flower before. Maybe the plastic helped plants grow, somehow? Wait, no, there wasn't any grass here or there, just chips of wood. Oh! It was to stop other plants from growing in between the bushes and choking out the flowers.

Ralts smiled to herself at a mystery well solved. A few moments passed before there was a significant opportunity to remain unseen and she dashed straight into the alleyway opposite, now in the more obviously 'city' parts of the city. The alleyway stood in stark contrast to the streets behind her. Where before there had been small paths of dirt and grass, there was now a layer of hard dark stone covering the ground. The buildings to either side had no windows into the alley, but one or two doors marked exit. A few large green containers lined one side of the hall. Dust, stones and bits of paper lined the cracks and crevices.

Giving the myriad doors a healthy distance, she moved closer to the green bins. **"Harold Industries Waste and Recyclables"** was emblazoned on the front of both dumpsters, along with the word Trash and Recyclables in large block letters on either. Climbing up on a handle, she cracked open the trash bin. An acrid fume hit her face, and she almost dropped the lid. Coughing slightly, she peered inside. Indeed, inside the bin was various bits of trash. Greasy plates, used tissues and napkins, a pile of torn wrappers, a cracked glass pane, and most noticeably a pile of moldy bread in a bag.

'I don't know what I expected.' Ralts grimaced, spotting a mushroom. 'Yuck. One of these doors must lead to a place that makes food.' Closing the lid, she looked up into the sky. The sun had moved across the sky much faster than she had expected, midday had come and gone not long ago. As if to remind her, Ralts' stomach began to growl. She blinked, and padded herself for a small handful of berries she had most assuredly brought along with her, because heading this far away from home alone without a bit of food was just plain _silly_ and- Ralts let out a small whine, lightly thumping her head on the dumpster. Which was quickly followed by more thumps, letting a quiet, hollow clang ring out through the alley. 'Stupid.' Thump, _clang._ 'Stupid.' Thump, _clang._ 'Stupid.' Thump, _clang._

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" A faint voice said from the side alley further ahead. If Ralts wasn't already pure white, she would have paled considerably. 'Oh no.' She looked behind her, only to see an empty alley far too large to cross. 'Uh.' Forward, passing into the line of sight of whoever had spoken. 'Nononono-' She looked down.

"I'm gonna go check it out! Come on, it might be a Zigzagoon!" Said the first voice. "Oh, I always wanted one of those! Maybe we can grab it?" Exclaimed a girl.

Well, that certainly made the decision easy. As quietly as she could, Ralts opened the dumpster and slipped inside it, diving into the refuse below. Unfortunately, the lid came down too fast after her, producing a loud ring. Muffled footsteps were heard shortly thereafter and Ralts counted three sets of two. Attempting to ignore the smell, she listed to the humans outside carefully.

"It must've been in the dumpster!" Said a boy.

"Is it still there?" Said a deeper voice.

"Well, I don't see it in the alley, so it has to be!" Proclaimed the girl. "You guys better not have scared it off."

Ralts hesitated for a split second before diving into the trash below her, hopefully obscuring her from sight. A crack of light appeared as one of the humans attempted to open the dumpster, but it didn't open very far. From the sounds and the way the crack shifted, Ralts assumed that the person was too short to properly open it, and was jumping to compensate.

The first boy gave a grunt of disappointment. "I can't see inside, it's too dark. Barry, get over here and hold my cone, I need to climb on your back!"

"... Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?" Barry said.

"Come on, I want to see the Zigzagoon!" Said the girl. Ralts heard a sigh, then a small shuffle.

"You ready?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, lift me up!"

A grunt, and then a small noise as the boy steadied himself against the dumpster. "Alright, opening on three. One, two, three!"

Light suddenly flooded the interior of the dumpster, and Ralts heard a cry triumph followed rapidly by distress before the lid came crashing back down, partially deafening her with the reverberation.

'Ow...' She thought, ears ringing.

"Ow... that... didn't go so well..." Grunted the boy outside.

"You think!?" Barry exclaimed. "You threw both of us backward! I told you it wouldn't work!"

"Hey, if you had just moved with me, I could've gotten it easy- Hey! You dropped my ice cream!" The boy replied, angry.

'Ice cream?' Ralts wondered.

"Yeah, well _someone_ knocked me over, and I didn't want to fall on my head!"

"Boys, boys! Calm down!" The girl interjected. "We can get you another one later. Are you okay? Did you see the zigzagoon?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Maybe a scrape. I didn't see anything in there, though. Just trash."

"Oh. Come to think of it, all the noise should be making it run around in there, but I don't hear anything."

"Aww... It must've gone down the alley before we got here." Said the girl. A pebble hit the dumpster, ringing it again.

"Oh well. Let's get going, I hear Wally got a Poochyena from the gym leader."

"Wheezy Wally got a Poochyena? That's so cool!"

Ralts heard footsteps, marking the humans departure. She poked her head above the rubbish, gagging. How long had that bread been in here? Grimacing, she wiped off bits of stuff off her coat, before freezing as the lid opened again.

"They gotta stop leaving trash laying around, it's bad for the trees." Barry muttered, dropping something extremely cold and wet right on Ralts' head. "Guys!" he called out, dropping the lid again. "Wait up, I wanna see it too!"

Ralts stood very still for a minute, coldness dripping down her head as the footsteps faded away. With a grimace, she reached up and opened the lid of the dumpster, climbing back out onto the handle, and then the ground below. Reaching up, she felt around her head and grabbed a soft protrusion at the end of the cold material. Pulling the object loose, she stared at it. In her hands laid a yellow cone with an odd grid like pattern covering it's surface, with a lump of white coldness sitting within.

'Is this ice cream?" she wondered. A splot of the treat dropped down her face, sending out a cold shiver. Grimacing, she concentrated and slowly lifted the majority of the liquid off her hair, letting it splatter to the ground below. 'I'm going to have to take a rinse later.' She grumbled.

She eyed the cone thoughtfully. It was some manner of human food, but they had just tossed it away because it fell on the ground? What a waste, she had eaten Magikarp that had fallen in mud just fine. A quick rinse and good as new. Her stomach growled again. Hesitating, she looked around the alley as if the children would pop out from behind the dumpster in revenge, or her grandpa would fall out of the sky and scold her for even thinking of such an idea.

She sniffed it.

It smelled of winter, a cool breeze through an overcast, lightly snowing sky. The shade of the trees at dusk.

A taste.

It was creamy, sweet, soft. It flowed like a liquid but retained shape, it tasted like the early frost, a chilled berry crushed and spread even with flakes, walking through the monochrome forest at the brink of dawn.

"Haaa..." She blinked, and stared down at the marvelous treat in her hands. She took another bite, then two and three-

A sharp spike of pain washed through Ralts' head. She winced, holding her head with her free hand as it died down. 'Right. Don't eat cold things too fast.' She thought.

Walking once more to the heart of the city, she wondered. If they could possibly throw away something like this, what else did they have?

She took another lick. It tasted of clouds.


	5. Vibrations

The streets of Petalburg bustled mightily at this hour, a fact which Ralts observed all too irritably. Sitting morosely inside a cardboard box at the mouth of an alley, she sighed, gazing at the steady streams of people through a small slit. There went a woman in a yellow sundress, over here, a boy in slacks and a t-shirt, and across the street was a man with three chatting kids.

Normally, this would seem like a golden opportunity to find out more about them. The main problem was that there were so many. It was hard to concentrate on any one person for a decent length of time before they got lost in a crowd. She couldn't even overhear what they had to say, as it seemed like all of them were talking at once. Making it across the street was entirely out of the question, as the past hour had confirmed.

With an aggravated grunt, she pushed herself to her feet. This was boring! She came here to discover new and amazing things, not watch people pass her by! It was kinda fun at home, but this was wasted time. But how to move forward? She couldn't go forward... sideways? A quick repositioning showed the same situation down the road, a steady stream of people walking the streets.

Maybe back the way she came? Slowly, she lifted the box a tiny bit and shuffled back into the corridor.  However, she quickly discovered that she was indeed surrounded on all sides. The opening to get to this area had taken far too long already. How was she supposed to move? Maybe... underground? There was a storm drain nearby, but it was far too small for her. Any hatches she had seen had been in the middle of the street. She flipped the box over and collapsed in it, frustrated. Morosely, she stared into the sky.

'I can't teleport across, seeing as I can't even crush fruit properly. I'd get ran over if I rushed it with the box... What am I going to do?' Slowly, the minutes ticked by, and a sudden glare made Ralts squint. Sitting up, Ralts rubbed her eyes and glared at the source of the light. A folded metal ladder hung from the top of the building opposite, the sun having drifted far enough to reflect. She blinked, and then grinned. Perfect.

Quickly leaping out of the box, she rushed over to the wall and peered at the ladder speculatively. There must be a way to extend it, she thought. Looking closely, she spotted a small latch at the top. Very carefully, Ralts searched for her hidden power. The comforting warmth of the psychic arts flowed through her body as she opened her mind. A chaotic blend of emotion struck Ralts as she began to pick up on the feelings of the people around her more acutely. Ignoring it as best as she was able, she directed her thoughts to the release mechanism. The latch glowed with exotic purple energy, then sprung open. Ralts winced as it sent a crashing _clankclankclank_ down the alleyway as it expanded to ground level.

'Loud, way too loud! They must have heard that!' she thought as she dashed forward. The rungs were awkwardly spaced, but the psychic pokemon made good time as she scrambled up the side of the building. She glanced back and saw that nobody had deigned to enter the alleyway in investigation, though she doubted that it had gone entirely unnoticed. Sure enough, right as she hopped over the edge of the roof, the door to the building below screeched open.  Ralts breathed a sigh of relief, walking away from the edge.

The roof was barren, except for odd bits of shaped metal here and there. A giant machine on a nearby corner rumbled peacefully as it did whatever it was meant to do. The rest of the city unfolded before her, structures four or five times as tall as she speared into the sky, partially obscured by the great many trees that lined every street. Off in the distance, a rather distinguished building sat with giant human letters constructed proudly on top.

It looked rather important, Ralts considered. Path set, the Pokemon approached a nearby tree that grew taller than the roof and formed a tunnel over the street with it's fellows. Testing a likely branch for durability,  Ralts smirked. Brushing away the surface of the canopy, she climbed off the roof and onto the bark.  She spared a passing glance at the people moving below her, the hubbub slightly dulled by the masses of leaves. None of them appeared to notice the commotion above them and with a grin, she continued to navigate the leafy pass.

Twice she crossed busy streets, hopping onto roofs and climbing back onto the trees opposite, when an odd sound became audible over the general noise of the traffic below. It was melodic in nature, and altered pitch in slow, methodical ways. Curiosity piqued, the psychic pokemon hurdled over one last rooftop and peered at the ground below in search of the melody.

He was old. Thin, with fading waves silvery hair adorning his head. Dressed in a white buttoned shirt and smooth black pants, his wrinkled hands held a rather odd wooden object atop his shoulder. His other grasped a long rod, also of wood but with a separate thin white band attached. Ralts could not make much more out at such a distance. The hand on the object fiddled with something on the neck as he played, and as he drew the white strip of the rod over something, clear notes sung out into the air.

It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever heard. It was long and solid, compared to birdsong, and steadier than any songs sung by the mothers. The song itself played slowly, many low notes echoed slowly across the street, bringing to mind foggy days and a rather tired sense of sadness.

But... why was nobody listening? Across from her vantage point, the bench the man sat on was situated in front of a rather small 'forest' that took up an entire block. It was empty aside from him, and everyone on the street passed him by, like they couldn't even hear the music wafting in the street. A couple slowed down or nodded at the man, but everyone just rushed onward, as if every one of them couldn't stay for longer than a second.

It was an absolute tragedy, she decided. Once more traversing the trees, she came to a rest on a hidden branch above the musician. They didn't know what they were missing. Oh well, their loss. If they wouldn't listen, she would.

Down below, the musicians' tunes played out among the people, giving off a feel of sorrow and resignation. He had been doing this every day for a long time now, and nobody stopped to listen. Today was no different. But, in some immeasurable way, the notes felt lighter. He played on.


	6. Ruckus

Eventually, the song ended. The man stood up, cracked his back, and packed away his instrument. Stretching, Ralts herself rose from her treetop perch, and watched as the man slowly walked down the street. His music had turned a more upbeat note near the end, she noted. Silently, she waved him goodbye and turned to her original destination.

A comparatively short time later, she arrived at the Petalburg gym. It was situated at the center of a large plaza surrounded by a large hedge wall, with several flat concrete fields circling the structure. The building itself was several stories high, and sported a bright, cheery GYM sign across the surface. Unfortunately, her path of trees ended a distance before the fields. She sighed. There would be no getting close to this building. Shame, it had looked rather important...

A commotion on the field caught her attention. A couple of young humans had entered the area, different from the ones in the alley or the two who had tried to capture her. They were about 50 yards away, and one of them appeared to be jostling the other onto a field. This warranted further investigation, she decided, and descended from the tree into the hedges. Shifting through the twigs, she arrived at the closest point to the ruckus. They had arrived in the center of an arena next to the hedge, which was marked by a drawing of concentric circles.

"-know the rules, Billy, a pokemon trainer has to accept any challenge he receives!" said one of them. He was a tallish boy, with styled blond hair and a well tailored blue suit.

"And I already said, I'm not a trainer, Winston!" Cried the other (Billy?). He was a foot shorter than Winston, had brown hair, and wore a blue and yellow shirt with black shorts and a blue cap.

"Oh?" challenged Winston, who smirked. "You caught a pokemon, that means you are a pokemon trainer. If you weren't you wouldn't be allowed to buy a pokeball, and they only sell those to people who show a pokedex!"

Billy flushed. "I- but- I'm not going to go around fighting people, I just wanted a pet!"

"Then you should have just gone out and grabbed one." Winston shrugged.

"You're the one who said I had to get a pokeball to get a pokemon!"

"Did I?" Winston put a finger on his chin in mock contemplation. "I do believe I only said that Trainers used pokeballs to catch pokemon, and that it was one of the easier methods to acquire one. You're the one that went out and registered."

"You lied to me!" He said, pointing a finger accusingly.

"No, I'm quite sure everything I said was true." He tapped his foot. "Now, are you going to blame me for every poor decision you've made, or are we going to battle?"

Winston, Ralts decided, was a jerk. She didn't fully understand what exactly was going on, but obviously he had tricked Billy into something he didn't want to do. Silently, she rooted for the short boy. _'Kick his butt, Billy!'_

The child grit his teeth. "Fine!" he shouted, pulling out his pokeball. "But I'll win this thing, and then you have to pay!"

Enlarging his own, Winston chuckled. "As if. Go, Thomas!"  he called, throwing the ball up into the air. With a loud pop and Whzxzxzxzxzxzx, a red blob shot out of the pokeball and to the arena floor, which resolved itself into the form of a Zigzagoon.

"Zig!" it yipped, running in a circle, before turning to face Billy. "Zig-zig!"

"Ah..." Billy stepped back, hesitating.

"Hm? Are you intimidated? After such bravado a moment ago..." Winston shook his head.

Billy looked infuriated at this. "I'm not scared!" Taking out his own pokeball, he tossed it into the air. Releasing it's own beam of bright light, a Seedot emerged from containment. [The stage was set](http://i.imgur.com/ihFIiss.png).

"Seed?" Seedot said, looking around in confusion.

Winston was smirking again.  "A Seedot? Really? They're useless!"

"I'll show you useless!" He pointed at the enemy Zigzagoon, snarling. "Seedot, Tackle!"

Seedot didn't move. A second passed.

"Dot?" It said, looking at Billy uncertainly.

Winston held stifled a chuckle with his hand. "Having a bit of trouble there?"

"Shut up you! What are you doing?" asked Billy, looking back at his pet. "Tackle the Zigzagoon!"

"Dot..." Looking vaguely uncertain, Seedot turned back to the racoon Pokemon. Starting forward, it picked up speed, it's stubby feet plodding the ground at a sluggish rate. "SeeeeeeEEEEE-" it cried, and flung itself full force at the Zigzagoon, slightly nudging him before falling face first onto the pavement.

"Zig." The Zigzagoon nudged the seed, unimpressed.

 _'What is he doing?'_ Ralts winced. _'Seedots can't fight head on!'_

Winston had burst into full on laughter, clutching his sides as the ridiculous display unfolded. Billy, for his part, looked dumfounded.

"Ah ha ha... hoo. That was the best thing I've seen all day." Winston smirked as he regained his composure. "Now then, let me show you how it's done." He waved his hand lazily in the direction of his still toppled enemy. "Thomas, tackle."

Thomas yipped. He bounced back two steps, jumped in a circle, rushed forward into the struggling Seedot and rammed his head straight into it's side. The Seedot was launched backwards, tumbling across the ground before skidding to a stop on Billy's side of the arena.

"Seed..." it said, dazed.

"Seedot! Are you okay?" Billy sported an expression of worry.

"Dot... dot." it replied, twisting around and climbing to it's feet. "Dot, Seedot."

"Uh." Billy glanced at Winston, then focused on Thomas. "Right. Can you still fight?"

"Seed!" A fire had appeared in the Seedots eyes. It appeared the fight was personal, now.

"Heh. I've yet to see any fight in the first place." Winston closed his eyes and made a shrugging motion with one hand, resting the other on his hip. "In my opinion, you should just surrender now and save yourself the pain."

"We'll show you!" Billy shouted.  "Alright Seedot, use Solar Beam!" He pointed at Zigzagoon, impending triumph splayed on his face.

For a second time, nothing happened. Seedot stared at his master. "Seed?" it said, somehow managing to convey exasperation. Billy's face fell.

Winston had palmed his face. "How can anyone be this terrible?" He murmured to nobody in particular.

"You can't...?" Billy asked, then continued, "Uh. Frenzy plant!" Seedot continued to stare.

"Petal Dance! Leaf Blade!" Winston was burying his face deeper into his hands.

"Giga Drain!? Razor Leaf? Vine Whip?"  Zigzagoon yawned, and scratched at his ear.

"Come, on!" He pleaded. "Bullet Seed, Absorb, Stun Spore? You must know how to do one of them!"

"Seed!" it replied, confused and worried. "Dot, Seedot Seed-seed!"

Ralts herself was getting irritated by the boys lack of knowledge. _'I don't think I've ever seen a Seedot use anything he's said, whatever they are, and that Seedot looks months old at best! Why isn't he using Seedots' natural abilities?'_ She slumped. _'He must not know. The Seedot doesn't seem capable of using them on it's own, either.'_

She peered back at the helpless pokemon, and at his opponent. She didn't want this taller boy to win. But what could she do? It was his battle, and she couldn't give the Seed pokemon orders. Or, she realized, maybe she could? It wasn't like mental contact was new, it was their races primary mode of communication after all! But all she had ever used it for in regards to other species was to force a sense of disorientation on the opponent to stun or confuse it enough to escape or capture the recipient.

"Right then," Winston said, simultaneously interrupting Billy's ineffective calling of abilities and Ralt's train of thought. "I think it's time we finished this. Maybe then, you can go learn how to not be a terrible trainer!"

"Eh?" Billy looked up at his nemesis. "Wait, no!"

"Yes!" Winston opposed, and flung out his arm. "Go, Thomas! Bury that seed in the ground!"

Thomas yipped, and rushed forward.

"Seedot!" Billy cried, reaching out as if he could protect it himself. "Do something!"

"Seedot!" Seedot responded, turning back to his approaching doom and eyes wide with fear.

And Ralts knew she had to act. She reached out and connected, and, in something that was less than words, spoke-

_'What comes around, goes around.'_

\- and Seedot understood, and cowered no longer. Coming to fully face his opponent, he stood his ground and prepared himself.

Zigzagoon rammed into Seedot with the force of a hammer, slamming the pokemon into the ground. "Goooooon!" it crowed, boasting of it's prowess.

"Seedot! Are you... okay?" Billy blinked at the strange sight before him.

"Seed... _Seed..._ " Seedot replied, and began emanating a soft red glow where it lay, motionless.

"Now then, Thomas!" Winston called, not seeming to notice the light. "Finish it off, crack open its shell!"

"Zagoon!" Jumped to the other  side of the glowing Seedot and bit down on the stem poking from the head of the pokemon. "Zig!" It cried, lifting the Seed pokemon off the pavement, and hurling it back down on it's other side. "Zag!" Lifted once more, he brought him down with a _crack_.

Over and over again, Zigzagoon hurled Seedot against the pavement, but with each iteration of this assault, Seedot’s red aura grew brighter and brighter. "Seed... Seed..."

"What...?"  Billy uttered, transfixed by the strange light.

"Eh? Winston said, finally becoming aware of the disturbance. "Is that? Wait, what!?" Winston's eyes widened dramatically as he stepped back. "How... When did you-? Thomas!" he screamed as the Zigzagoon continued to pummel at the shimmering Seedot, "Stop, retreat, get back here!"

Thomas's head snapped to his trainer after he slammed his opponent down for the last time. "Zag?" he said, dropping the stem.

"Run, dodge! it's going to-" Winston was cut off.

 ** _"SEEDOT."_** The seedot bellowed from the floor. It stood up ponderously, like an awakening giant. The Zigzagoon yipped in surprise, turning to stare at it's opponent.

Billy grinned victoriously, confused but understanding that something awesome was happening. "Seedot! Go get him!" he commanded. And Seedot _obeyed_ , the entirety of his crimson aura collapsed and coalesced into a raging white sphere.

 _"Seeeeeee-!"_ He shouted, staring straight at his opponent.

"Thomas!"

Thomas turned to run, but he was far, far too late.

_**"-DOOOOOOOOOOT!"** _

A raging torrent of energy cascaded out of the sphere, crashing straight into Thomas's face with the force of a raging Tauros. With a pained cry, Zigzagoon was launched away, skipping across the pavement a fourth of the way across the grounds, where he fell to the earth, tumbled twice and skidded to a halt. Thomas struggled to stand, but faltered and collapsed, motionless.

"Thomas!" Winston cried, rushing over to his fallen friend. Falling at his side, he quickly checked him over before sighing in relief. "Just unconscious..." he muttered. He brought out his pokeball and with another laser returned Thomas to his device. "Don't worry buddy, I'll get you to a center soon."

"Yeah!" Billy cheered, as he ran to hug his Seedot. "We did it! We won! Oh I thought we were done for but then you glowed like _Fwhoom_ and then you blasted a laser like _Peoooow_ and that was awesome!" He laughed as he spun in place, hugging his pokemon tightly.

"See-Seedot..." Seedot replied, dizzy and exhausted but happy.

Ralts giggled to herself as she watched the childish display. Yes, she decided, interfering had been totally worth it.

"Ha!" Billy shouted, pointing at the returning Winston, "I won! That means you gotta pay up!"

"That win was a load of tosh and you know it." Winston scowled. "You didn't even do anything."

"Doesn't matter, I still won!"

Winston sighed. "Yes, very well. What do you want?"

"You!" Billy declared, "Are going to pay for my lunch!"

Winston raised an eyebrow. "It's five-thirty. Lunch was over three hours ago."

"Linner!" Billy immediately restated, grinning madly.

Winston stared at him. "What in the world is Linner?"

"It's like brunch, but with dinner and lunch."

"I don't think that’s a word."

"Well is is now!" He folded his arms. "I just made it one!"

Winston facepalmed. "You are just unbelievable."

Billy, who had started walking out of the area, called back "Unbelievably _awesome_!"

"Seed!"

Winston groaned and followed them. Ralts watched them go with a silly grin on her face. This place, she decided, was so much more interesting than the forest. Next time she came, she'd have to...

 _'Next time?'_ She asked herself. Well, yes. The urge surprised her. When she had first set out, she had only wanted to satisfy her unusual curiosity. But now, she thought, I can see just how much I've been missing. She didn't think she could stand not ever tasting that sweet concoction ice cream again, nor could she forget the soft melody the man on the bench had played.

The fight just now, the latter half had set her ablaze with excitement. That singular rush when the Seed pokemon unleashed it's full power was unlike most things she had ever experienced. And the moon! They were going to walk on the moon! How had they been able to fly so far as to break the sky? It was so far away, and yet...

 _'Humans had left the forests behind.'_ She thought, staring at the shadowed moon, which was looming at the horizon. _'They left it behind and reached for the stars. Maybe...’_

She paused and looked at the sky, which was transitioning into darker shades of red.

 _'Oh,'_ she realized. _'The moon is coming up.'_

A moment of silence.

 _'Crap!'_ Panicking, she untangled herself from the leaves and turned to run. _'It's late! It's really really late!'_ Fretting, she shot along the hedge and shimmied back up the tree. _'It's going to be twilight before I make it back at minimum! Oh Gramps is going to tear me a new one...'_ Dread in her heart, she shot along the rooftops and towards the place she called home.


	7. Ambush

By the time Ralts had made it back to the forest edge, twilight had well and truly fallen. The woods took upon themselves an ethereal haze, as the glow of the moon slowly became the only source of light. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, the psychic weaved through trees and shrubs towards home.

The Poochyena hunted most often at night, she knew. Their natural coal coloring and dark minds made the gloom a perfect hunting ground. Ralts bore this in mind most clearly as the sun faded entirely. Navigating the half remembered surroundings, she became acutely aware of every sound around her.

A third of the way there, she said to herself as time passed. The moon rose near its’ apex in the sky. A third more. A Taillow’s echoing shriek caused her to jump, terrified. She stilled, listening intently. When nothing further happened, she let loose her stilled breath.

A lone howl then echoed through the darkness, freezing the blood in her veins. Abandoning all subtlety, Ralts fled through the bush. Shadows jumped and twisted in the light as a feral chorus answered the first. Through this bush, jump the rocks, slide under the fallen tree. The cries sounded again, closer.

Ralts took fleeting glances at her surroundings as she passed through.The dim light made it hard to see, but her mind pieced flashes of familiar scenery together. This was… yes, she knew this place, she was so close! Making a hard turn left, she dashed with renewed vigor. Behind her, she heard a crash as her pursuers slammed into a thorny brush. She winced as the pained cries echoed behind her. This is not the time to feel pity, she told herself, and pushed further on.

Just a short time later, she saw a light flickering in the distance. The sounds of pursuit echoed behind her in frightening volume, and she put on that extra burst of speed as she dove through into the clearing beyond.

“What the-” A voice called, startled. The guard from earlier stood in the glow of a floating oil lamp, staring at her with wide eyes. His spear was pointing directly at her.

“Poochyena!” Ralts cried, skidding around his weapon and hiding behind him. “From the forest!”

“You- What!?” The Kirlia halted his half turn and returned his gaze to the woods beyond. The bushes rustled all around them. Ralts huddled closer to the guards side.

“You know,” he mentioned, eyes shifting back and forth. “When I said I’d protect you from the poochyena, I didn’t exactly mean ‘Go out and find them.’”

“You’re lecturing me about this _now_!?”

“Might not get another chance.” He shifted his grip and lowered his lantern onto the ground. “Stay low, I’ll get us both out of here, alright?” The shadows danced eerily around the clearing. The wind picked up slightly, whistling through the canopy above. [For a moment, there was calm.](http://i.imgur.com/YAkTawj.png)

From the left, a poochyena exploded out of the shrubbery, thirty pounds of sharp teeth and fury. Kirlia spun around at once and smashed it to the ground with the haft of her spear. Pirouetting, he levered the mutt and flung him, intercepting another leaping dog in midair. He skid to a halt and stabbed at the third dog rushing down the center.

The dog dodged to the side, but yelped when the spear scored a gash along his body. Kirlia pulled back and stabbed again, but the poochyena retreated, growling. Spinning, he caught the shaft in the snarling jaws of a recovered foe and with a heave slammed it down, narrowly ducking under the first poochyenas attack.

Ralts watched in terrified awe as Kirlia spun and slashed at the dogs, barely managing to stay ahead of their ferocious attacks with skill and experience. Shaking, she reached out with her psychic power, searching for any way to help, but found that her efforts slid off the dogs like water.

But there had to be _something_. Sitting here, useless, powerless… A swell of fury rose within her. Again she threw a psychic blast at the hounds, again her efforts yielded nothing. Helpless, she watched as her guardian faltered, and received a gash to the arm for his mistake. Desperately, her eyes wandered the clearing for anything she could possibly do.

Kirlia panted as the dogs readied themselves for another assault. The poochyena circled him, looking for an opening to exploit. He winced as fresh gashes on his arm pulsed, launching a fresh wave of pain. Sensing weakness, the hounds closed in from all sides, snarling and thrashing. Desperately, he warded off two of them with a wide sweep and caught the third in the leg, tripping it.

He jerked the spear backwards, jamming the haft into an adversaries snarling maw. The poochyena growled and snapped its jaw shut around the shaft and pulled away, almost yanking the tool out of Kirlia’s hands. He stumbled, falling to a knee. The other dogs rebounded and charged in from opposite sides. Panicked, Kirlia turned to his left and instinctively shot a blast of pure psychic energy at the incoming mutt. Ignoring it, both poochyena darted forward, slavering. Raising an arm in guard, Kirlia braced for the pain.

He was rather startled when they were instead pelted with two rather large glowing rocks. He kicked the hound attached to his weapon once, twice, and finally knocked the beast off. Leaping backwards, he brandished his spear at the poochyena once more, and glanced backward to whence the timely assistance had come. Face screwed in concentration, Ralts stood tall in the flickering lamp light. Around her orbited tens of stones, whirling and scraping against each other.

Kirlia paused, then broke out a wry grin. “Couldn’t have busted that out earlier?”

Ralts let out a low, annoyed keen, and a rock narrowly missed the guards head. A whine sounded as a dog was downed in mid-leap.

“Point made.” He noted.

Swinging around the haft, he slammed another hound to the dirt. Whirling, he slashed at the third foe which failed to dodge in time, leaving a seeping gash across its side. It was then hit by a stone. Hit by hit, slash by slash, the poochyena were driven back. Any advancements made or tactics attempted, thwarted by a precisely slung piece of granite.

Finally, after an an age of combat, all of the poochyena laid upon the ground, exhausted and bloodied. Kirlia, out of breath, watched them with spear at the ready. Slowly, the trio of aggressors climbed to their feet. Letting out a mournful howl, all three slinked off into the night.

Sighing with relief, the guardsman planted his spear into the ground and rested against it for a moment, before turning to his attention to his charge. Ralts had long released her orbiting ring and lay on her knees, gasping for air.

Kirlia staggered over and kneeled down. “You alright, there? It’s okay.” He laid a hand on her shoulder at her shuddering breaths. “It’s okay. We made it, eh?”

He was silent for a time, letting her regain her stamina. “First time using that much energy, huh? Didn’t even think you had that much in you, most younglings don’t. Really saved my butt there.” he added.

Ralts chucked weakly. “Had to… had to do something. Couldn’t sit and do no-nothing.” She coughed, mouth dry.

“Well, I’m glad you had my back. Not many would have started chucking rocks.” Gently, he turned her over and scooped her into his arms. With a bit of effort, he telekinetically lifted his spear and the lamp, which hovered behind him.

“C’mon,” he said, walking through the trees. “Your grandfather was worried.”

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. Major stuff happened and then it was hard to finish after an extended absence.


	8. Elder

The walk was quiet, though Ralts did not notice so much. At some point, she had transferred to riding the shoulders of the guard, head resting between his bright red horns. With tired eyes, she watched the trees pass by as they made their way home.  
   
She could sense when the guard sent out a psychic message, presumably alerting everyone else about her. Idly she searched for who else might be out, but her range was still very limited; she could not sense anyone.  
   
“You holding up okay?” The guard asked after a long silence.  
   
“‘m tired.” she mumbled.  
   
She could feel the amusement wafting off of him. “Yeah, going head to head with a pack like that does that to you.”  
   
“You’re not tired at all!” she accused.  
   
“Nah, I’m exhausted too. But I’ve trained for this, and I’m bigger than you as well. I can deal with it.” He smirked. “Who knows, more escapades like this and you might be as tall as me soon.”  
   
“Do you really mean it?” she whispered. Staying awake was becoming a difficult prospect.  
   
“Of course! Stressful experiences like that are the fastest way to achieve the form of Kirlia! Though,” he backtracked suddenly, realizing what he was saying. “you should not disappear for an entire day like this. These woods are dangerous you know, and… huh.”  
   
He paused, and only heard soft breathing in reply.

* * *

 She woke up in darkness, illuminated by candlelight and a soft shine from far away. Soreness emanated from her legs, and her mouth was dry. Rubbing her eyes, Ralts sat up and beheld the familiar comfort of her room which was located within the cave.  
   
Her bed was a semi-carved alcove in the wall, liberally padded with dried grass and other greenery. Next to it was a large, flat boulder which held a few trinkets. A rusted old spearhead laid prominently next to a faded red hair clip at the edge closest to her resting place. Other things were strewn further back, such as a collection of interesting rocks (The transparent green one was her favorite.) and even a small skeleton of a Magikarp that had two tails.  
   
What caught her attention was a small cup of water next to a burning candle. She took a large drink and coughed as it stuck in her throat. Emptying the cup, she gingerly swung herself out of the alcove, grimacing at the lingering ache. The rest of her room was somewhat empty. A small yellow ball found on the trails rested on the floor, and a worn out replica of a Surskit made out of grasses laid on another rocky table. The walls were occasionally marked by her own amateur attempts at artistry.  
   
Putting the candle out, she gingerly made her way into the main cavern of her home. Her grandfather stood at a table against the wall, muttering to himself. She brightened up immediately, ache forgotten.  
   
“Grandpa!” she exclaimed, latching onto his waist.  
   
“Wh-! Oh dear,” he said, turning around. He knelt and hugged Ralts in return. “It is good to see you up and about. I admit I wasn’t expecting this for a little while yet.” He pulled away and looked her over. “Are you feeling well? Are you hurt?”  
   
Ralts shook her head in the negative. “I’m all right. My legs are really sore though.”  
   
He smiled, relief blazoned upon his face. “I am glad. You hadn’t come home when the dark came in, and nobody knew where you had gone. I was so worried.“  
   
“I’m sorry.” she mumbled.  
   
“You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.” he murmured in return. Pausing, he continued, “Though, I must ask a question. Please answer truthfully, what were you doing out so late?”  
   
Ralts froze. A myriad of excuses, each worse than the last, raced through her mind. “I… I got lost?” she tried, weakly.  
   
Her grandfather stared at her blankly, then sighed. “I see.” Turning around, he reached back toward the table. “Would the reason happen to have something to do with… this?”  Facing her once more, he held in his hand the Pokeball from yesterday morning.  
   
She boggled at the small device. “I- what- how?”  
   
“It was on the floor by the entrance.” he stated. “Nobody but us has come into these caves for three days, and yesterday morning you lingered at the entrance. Hiding something?”  
   
Whatever formative plan she had begun to make wilted and died at her grandfather's questioning. She nodded, ashamed.  
   
“I see.” he murmured. His eyes sharpened. “You asked about humans before you disappeared. Where did you find this?”  
   
“I…” Ralts hesitated. “Yesterday morning. I was picking berries on the trails- _I’m sorry!_ ” she pleaded at his disapproving frown. “The berries there are so much bigger I… well, nothing had ever happened before so…”  
   
He didn’t say anything. At her pause, he motioned her to continue.  
   
“Ah.” she stammered. “I, ah, well. Yesterday, when I was about to go home… two humans snuck up behind me and- and tried to capture me.”  
   
“Oh.” he breathed. “Oh child.”  
   
“They had a zigzagoon, and it knocked me around a bit.” she rambled. ”I… they threw that at me. I saw it coming, and dodged into the bushes and ran for it. I found it after they left.”  
   
There was a moment of silence. “After you asked your questions, you left the village. Where did you go?”  
   
Ralts hesitated once more. Mustering her courage, she responded. “I went north. To the human city.”  
   
“Oh.” Her grandfather looked ready to faint, his hands trembling mightily.  “Oh, what have you done?”  
   
“I don’t-” Ralts reached out to him, but drew back at a sudden advance.  
   
He grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke forcefully, “Did they see you!? Did they _follow_ you?” His eyes searched hers in a panic.  
   
“I-” Ralts was taken aback. “N-no! They didn’t see me! I was hidden the entire time!”  
   
He held her gaze for a moment more, before exhaling. “Good.” Releasing her, he stood to his full height. “What were you thinking!?” he scolded. “You could have gotten captured! They could have found us! You- I-” His face twisted, his voice lowered to a whisper. “I could have lost you.”  
   
“I just… I…” Rats felt tears prick at her eyes. She wringed her hands together, robbed of any reply.  
   
Her grandfather stood in silence for a moment longer, then sighed. “Can you tell me why? I know I have told you before that humans were trouble. Why in the world would almost being captured spur you to travel into their city?”  
   
Ralts sniffled, then rallied. “I don’t really know. I mean, after they left, I found that ball they threw at me in the forest. It, well.” She held out a hand. After a moment's hesitation, the aged Kirla gave her the device. “It was like nothing I had seen before. If you press the button-” The pokeball shrank to a fourth of its’ size. “it shrinks, and if you press it again it grows.” She demonstrated, and her grandfather looked incredulous.  
   
“That’s it?” he said. “It’s just a pokeball. I don’t see how-”  
   
“What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?” Ralts said, shocked. “That’s amazing! They’re tiny little balls that can shrink and grow on command! And, and the humans keep their companions in them! I saw a full Zigzagoon pop out of the one! It was alive and well, and, and how did they do that? How does this thing work? I just… I…” She trailed off, suddenly self conscious of her rambling. “I know you told me about them earlier, but seeing it for myself was different. I just wanted to know more.”  
   
“Hmfh. There are better ways to satisfy curiosity than charging straight into a human city!” he frowned. “Were my lessons not enough? I’m one of the most knowledgeable people here and yet-”  
   
No!” Ralts interrupted. “No, it wasn’t. Everything I’ve ever heard about humans were either warnings or horror stories. Everything else is just… bits and pieces overheard from whenever we weren’t so scared that we ran away at the first sign of them!”  
   
“Of course we do.” His tone was wavering, confused. “You should know by now how dangerous they are. There’s nothing of worth to be had from them, how can you even argue this?”  
   
“You didn’t see what I saw!” she accused. Gesturing wildly, she explained. “I was there, in the city! I saw structures made of stone and glass rise taller than any tree! They had boxes with moving images in them, which talked and showed faraway places! I tasted their food, and it was sweeter than anything I had ever eaten before, and they threw it away casually like garbage! I heard a wordless song from an old man who created it with wood and strings, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. And they ignored it.” She stalled, breathing heavily. After a moment she continued in a more even tone. “If they can ignore such wonderful things, there must be something even grander out there to make them seem dull. I’m just… I want to see it. I want to see all of it.”  
   
An uneasy quiet took place once more. Eyes wide, her grandfather seemed shocked. “I…” he started. “Even so, you can’t do this again. If we were discovered, we would surely all be caught by these humans.  Here in the forest, we are safe-”  
   
“They went to the moon.”  
   
“-from discovery- what?”  
   
“I said, they went to the moon. I heard it from one of their picture boxes.”  
   
Incredulity wrote itself across his features. “You can’t be serious. Humans can’t fly, and even so, the moon is so far away-”  
   
“They did!” Ralts roared. “They built a giant ship that goes up and they went to the moon and now they’re going to build a giant house there!”  
   
The elderly Kirlia had the distinct feeling he was losing control of the argument. “Well, okay. That’s incredible. But what does that have to do with this?”  
   
“Because, if they don’t mind flying toward the stars to reach the moon, why would they have trouble finding us here, eventually?” Ralts pointed outside. “I saw their city, and for all its size it was still growing! They’re not going to stop at the edge of the forest. They’re going to keep coming, until by luck or accident, they find us.”  
   
He shook his head. “Whatever the case, it’s still not safe out there!”  
   
“It’s not going to be safe _here_ for much longer either!”  
   
“Then what would you have me do!?” her grandfather snapped, temper wearing thin. “Go up to the humans and politely ask them to stop!? There can be no resolution! They would not even listen to me for a second! Whatever they’ve done, they are still humans, and the humans would still capture us!”  
   
“Then I’ll make them!” Ralts shouted, surprised at her own outburst. “With _this_!” Brandishing the pokeball still within her grasp, she proclaimed, “You said that the best trainer made all the rules, right? With this, I will become that trainer and then they will have to listen.”  
   
Her grandfather's expression could be best described as that of a freshly caught magikarp, open mouthed and shocked beyond comprehension. “Have you gone mad!? Becoming a trainer? What in the world are you thinking, you can’t do that!”  
   
“Why not?” she challenged.  
   
“They would sooner capture you!”  
   
“Then I’ll disguise myself!” she retorted.  
   
“What foolishness- No disguise could possibly conceal you! We look far too different!”  
   
“Then I’ll trick them! We can use our powers to make light shows, or daze creatures, why could I not use it to deflect suspicion?”  
   
“Stop! Just- stop, for one moment!” Ralts stilled. Had she gone too far? Her grandfather closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He shook for a second, then clasped his hands together and exhaled slowly.  
   
Another moment passed, and then he cracked an eye at her. “Do you know why we are here? Or rather,” he amended. “why there is a village at all? The reason we do not all wander in the wilds aimlessly like all other species?”  
   
Ralts frowned. She didn’t remember hearing this story. The question had never even crossed her mind. The village simply _was_. “I’ve never heard that story. Why?”  
   
“Hm. It is important history, though I suppose I cannot fault the others for not passing the story along. It happened so long ago.” He beckoned her over to a rocky table, where they sat. Ralts fiddled with the pokeball still in her grasp. Her grandfather eyed it. “I suppose the first question is, have you heard of our Ancestor?”  
   
“Ancestor?” Ralts frowned. “I think I’ve heard some of the old Kirlia say things like,” She adopted an exaggerated voice of a crone. “‘Back in my day, the Ancestor would have sorted this mess out right quick.’ Is that who you’re talking about?”  
   
Grandfather nodded solemnly. “She was a Gardevoir.”  
   
Ralts gasped and leaned forward. The third evolution of her kind was extraordinarily rare. “Like my parents?”  
   
A flash of sorrow crossed the old Kirlia’s face. “Not quite. Your parents were regular gardevoirs, as far as that term can be applied. The Ancestor was different, and though she vanished a mere few seasons before your birth, I can remember that frightening woman to this day.” He leaned back. “She didn’t look like a regular gardevoir at all, no. Your parents, they had solid green hair, eyes like rubies. My son had a coat of a pure cloud, and your mother’s was a dress of fresh snow. Graceful and precise, their dances were beautiful.”  
   
Ralts felt that old ache in her heart. She had never gotten to know them, and never would. Her grandfather's words provided a tiny bit of catharsis.  
   
[“But the Ancestor, her coat was marred by streaks of darkest pitch; her hair was stained with spots of clouded water, and her eyes shone in blood. Even her horn was cracked in twain.”](http://i.imgur.com/5IFxJ3a.png) He stared into the distance, reminiscing. “She was a true terror. Even crippled as she was, she exuded a power greater than anything else I have ever known.”  
   
“Crippled?” This Ancestor seemed scary. What was her relation to the village?  
   
“Mmm. Yes, she was crippled. Every time she used her abilities, she said her body lit up with an intense fire. What she could bring to bear at the hardest of times was amazing, and yet it still felt like a stream was running a route that once carved a canyon. Even as she was, she was our protector, our leader. Her abilities were enough to ward off even the Mightyena.”  
   
“Warded off the Mightyena? I thought you said my parents…?”  
   
Her grandfather nodded sadly. “Mmm. When she vanished, her protections faded over time. Eventually, the leader of the wild dogs in the forest decided we were a fit meal. Your parents objected and, well. I have told this story before.”  
   
Ralts dipped her head low, and fiddled with the ball a bit. Composing herself, she returned to the matter at hand. “Why are you telling me about the Ancestor?”  
   
“Because she is at the root of the matter. The reason that she is called the Ancestor is that so many years have passed that we all can trace our forbearers back to her. She was the founder of the village.”  
   
Ralts stared in disbelief. “What? That’s crazy! She couldn’t have been so ancient!”  
   
He chuckled. “Indeed, even when I was young, she was ancient. My grandfather knew her, and so did his grandfather. She was old beyond compare, and oh, did she loath humans.”  
   
“Amazing, to live to such an age, and in such a state!” Ralts wondered at it, before the last part caught her attention. “She hated humans? Why?”  
   
“Because it was the actions of the humans that crippled her.”  
   
“What!?”  
   
“The story is fragmented, and she kept her past hidden, but she told this story every so often. To remind us. When she was young, she herself was the partner of a human. Back in ancient times when the distinction between a pokemon and human didn’t exist. And it was the consequence of that partnership which caused her to lose so much of herself. Whatever happened, she fled that world, leaving naught but dust and hatred behind her.”  
   
“She gathered every one of her kind she could find on the continent. We moved here, deep into the wilds. She took pieces of knowledge from her time with the humans and taught us how to be that slightest bit better, and then we were able to build all this, humble as it is.”  
   
He sighed, suddenly seeming every bit his age. “She warned us of them continually. ‘Do not go near the humans, they will capture you, and hurt you.’ With her tricks nobody ever wandered near, and those brave few who left were never seen again. When she left us, leadership was passed to your parents as the only remaining gardevoir. And now it is shared amongst us old folk. Every day I wonder if today is the day it all falls apart.”  
   
“I am scared.” he admitted, looking her in the eye. “I am scared of what they could do. If they could do such things to _her_ , then…” He sighed. “My son is gone, and so is your mother. I don’t want to lose you too.”  
   
SIlence fell. Ralts turned the situation over in her head. What her grandfather spoke of seemed almost impossible in the face of what she had witnessed. She couldn’t imagine a place that held such marvels to be capable of also performing such horrors. But then, she hadn’t seen much, had she?  
   
“I still want to go.” She said.  
   
Her grandfather looked at her incredulously. “After all that I have told you, you still pursue this ambition?”  
   
Ralts made an affirming hum. “I get that horrible things were done to her. I get that. But… it was very long ago, wasn’t it? The people there, in the city… I can’t see them doing such things. What I said before still applies as well. We can’t stay here forever, and you said yourself that whatever she did to protect us is gone. I need to do this.” She stared her grandfather down, steadfast.  
   
The seconds ticked by as he stared right back, but then he sighed. “Stubborn, you are. Just like your father. I suppose you got that mouth of yours from your mother, too.”  
   
“You’ll need a cloak, I think.” He continued. Ralts’ eyes widened. “Maybe a hat? You’ll need to learn illusions as well-” He grunted, interrupted by an abrupt impact. Smiling, he returned his granddaughters hug.  
   
“Thank you!”  
   
“Don’t thank me yet. We’ll have to do a bit of preparation, and there’s still the fact that you need to fool one of those professors into thinking you’re human. But, first things first, you need a name.”  
   
She blinked. “A name?”  
   
He chuckled. “What, you didn’t notice? Humans aren’t psychic and don’t talk via telepathy. They use their voices, and they can’t just identify someone by their mental signature. So they need to single people out with a personal name!” He patted her head. “Took me a bit to figure that one out too. And I didn’t go sneaking around a city!”  
   
“So!” The elderly Kirlia kneeled, and clapped both hands on her shoulders. “As your grandfather, it is my pleasure to grant you a name! Something worthy of the hope you seek to bring us, I think. My son, he was like the night, harmonic in nature and of calm mind. Your mother was like the day, with a burning spirit of fiery passion and determination. Haha, I think I’ve got it!”  
   
Ralts jittered, giddy at the prospect. “What is it? What is it?”  
   
“So, the humans think they can go wherever they please! They can have the moon, I say.” he said with a flourish. Spreading his hands, he continued, “We’ll go even further beyond! Granddaughter, I bestow upon you the name Astra. A name fit for the heavens. A rising star amongst the unknown. Fitting, wouldn’t you say?”  
   
Astra grinned.  
   
“Now, let’s see about that disguise…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. I hope it reads ok. I stopped writing straight in the middle for over half a year after all.
> 
> Art credit to Dexexe. Check out his Paetron! https://www.patreon.com/Dexexe1234


	9. Charade

It was slightly past mid-day when a trio of psychics moved out from the village. Their goal was simple: Astra was to enter a human settlement and become a Pokemon trainer.

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” The guard complained. He was leading the small group forward, heading east. “It’s completely insane.”

Walking in the middle, Astra’s grandfather grunted. “It is what is necessary. We’ve been exceptionally lucky so far. Without action on our end, we will doom ourselves.”

The guard merely sighed. “That’s the same reasoning as earlier. It still sounds crazy. Even then, you could have waited more than half a day to start this! Or even, I don’t know, told anybody else!?”

“I don’t see why I have to wait when I’m ready!” Astra huffed, herself taking up the rear, fully clad in her disguise far ahead of necessity.

“That’s another thing. How in the world did you master illusions in that time? Last I heard, you were still having trouble with control.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m awesome-” Astra’s boast was cut off by a flick to her forehead. “Ow! Hey!” she pouted at her grandfather, who merely smiled.

“Do not get too overconfident, Astra. In any case, she has not mastered illusionary arts, no. But she has learned enough that, combined with her disguise, it should be trivial to misdirect their expectations.” he smiled. “That said, she did pick it up rather quickly. I suspect she hit a minor breakthrough during your scuffle the other night.”

“You look ridiculous, by the way.” The guard mentioned. “How aren’t you getting heatstroke in that thing?

“I do not! I look mysterious, and cool.” she replied. “Literally. It isn’t getting that warm, actually. I can just make a breeze on the inside. See?” She struck a fancy pose, and the garment dramatically billowed in the still air.

“Admittedly, we did not have a lot of choice in ‘style’.” Her grandfather shrugged, ignoring the display. “We don’t have any tailors, and only had one bolt of fabric. We are lucky that it managed to fit together, I think the aesthetic can be forgiven.”

“The ‘sleeves’,” he deadpanned, making air quotations, “go half a foot beyond her hands.”

“It’s kinda fun.” Astra added, flopping said sleeves for effect.

“Their hands look very different. It’s wise to hide them.”

“And the hat?”

“Humans don’t have horns.”

“True.” The guard conceded the point. “Still looks awful.”

“Thank you for coming with us, by the way.” Astra said. “Even after you got all banged up yesterday.”

The guard rubbed his head. “It’s no big deal. Kinda in the job description. That reminds me, why didn’t we bring more?”

“We’re going for stealth.” the elderly kirlia reminded him. “If we brought more, we would be more likely to be spotted.”

“I suppose so.” The guard didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press the point. “You’re here to teleport us all away if it goes wrong, right?”

The grandfather hummed in confirmation. “If at any point Astra is discovered, I will pick up on her distress call, teleport to her, and teleport us both out within a second. Then, I shall teleport the three of us back home. In such a scenario, I will probably have to sleep in for the next day or two. Teleporting is an intensive task, and three of them back to back over long distances, well, it’s very difficult.” Chuckling, he added “If I may brag, I believe I am one of the few capable enough to accomplish such a feat.”

“Ah! You’re so awesome!” Astra gushed. “I hope I can do that someday.” Grinning, she levitated tens of stones from the surrounding grass and set them orbiting around her, forming patterns in the air. “This is pretty easy now, so I should be close, yeah?”

Her grandfather smiled. “Not quite. You must still practice, and you must also attain your next form. For now you are still a child, and though we are in a hurry in some things there is no need to rush others.Teleportation will come in time.”

“It’s harder than it looks. I can only do it a few times per day, and not very far.” the guard admitted.

“You usually skeeve off duty to grab a magikarp from the fire. Don’t try to pull one over on me young man, I’ve sensed you flash away!” He warned. The guards mouth snapped shut. He sighed and returned his attention to the march.

Some time passed, filled with idle banter, minor acrobatics across branches, and a brief encounter with a family of zigzagoon. The sun inched across the sky.

“So… when are we getting there?” Astra asked. She hadn’t traveled this direction much at all. Surely it was getting close?

“Soon. The building is on the outskirts of the town, if I remember correctly. It is there that humans acquire the ability to use their devices.” The elder frowned, and continued a train of thought. “I was an adventurous youth myself. I often overheard bits of conversation near the trails in the past, though they were much smaller back then. They mentioned this place once or twice.”

“I’m starting to hear noises.” The guard warned, halting the group's momentum. Creeping closer at a slowed pace, they came upon a scarcity of trees leading to a large clearing, in the center of which stood a building. It was two stories tall with windows on each side and a chimney, made from wood and colored a cheery tan. On first impression, it would almost be mistaken for a cottage.

“That’s… a lot of pokemon.” Asta said, eyes wide. Indeed, an extraordinarily large gathering of creatures were lazing about behind and to the sides of the building. Most of them were native to the forest, but there were several extreme oddities, such as a titanic blue pokemon lounging next to a large pond containing several unknown aquatic types. Nearby, a giant steel beast she had never seen before was making a terrible racket while burrowing inside a pile of scrap metal.

The metal pokemon also appeared to be on the receiving end of a lecture by a green haired human. Astra couldn’t make out what he was saying; but judging by how he held his hands over his ears, it would be about the noise. She yelped as she was yanked behind a tree.

“Be careful.” Her grandfather admonished. “There are many eyes here.” Peeking back around, he observed the scene for a moment more. “I believe this is the location.” He paused, eyes scanning across the area. “Hm, yes. We will have to circle around a bit so you can come from that road.”

Astra wrought her hands as they flitted from tree to tree. Faced with the imminent encounter, her fear was becoming rapidly apparent. What if she screwed up? If she said the wrong thing, she could be captured and sent away, wouldn’t she? What if-

The guard clapped a hand on Astra’s shoulder. The beaten dirt path lay in front of her, leading to the structure. “Well kid, looks like it’s showtime.” He grinned, but it didn’t hide the nervous tone. “We’re counting on you, alright? It’ll be okay.”

Astra let out a breath and returned the guards smile. “Thank you. I’ll do my best!”

With shaky steps, she emerged from the treeline and set off down the road to the lab.

* * *

 

Professer Birch frowned at his paper. This whole grant thing was infuriating. How was he supposed to get anything done if his funds depended on some unimaginative hacks who never spent even a week camping in a deep forest in their life? He sighed and rubbed his temple. He hoped Joshua finished with Aggron soon. The screech of metal was giving him a migraine.

He just wanted to fund a deep woods expedition for a reasonable length of time, but no. ‘There’s nothing in those woods, we’d rather explore the ocean’ they said. ‘Such a thing could be afforded with one’s own money’ they thought. Excuse him if feeding his own family and maintaining the lab took up most of his funds and time. He even had decent evidence this time! A new, rare pokemon reported by a trainer he had sent out himself!

Maybe he could- a small bell disrupted his already frayed attention. Sighing, he left the matter for later and turned to see his visitor. “Hello there, is there anything I can- eh?”

He blinked. A child stood, visibly nervous at the entrance to his lab. She stood waist high and was dressed in the most bizarre clothes he had ever seen. Without a single stitch to be found, the kid seemed to be wearing a full body cloak out of a stretch of black cloth. She appeared to have even covered her head and mouth, leaving only one brilliant red eye exposed under a fringe of green hair held to the side by a red clip. She was also wearing a large sunhat made out of… woven grass? Is this what Joshua meant by hipster? Was she wearing two pairs of pants as well? He didn’t know it happened this young.

“H-hello?”

She also had the weirdest _voice_ Birch had ever heard. It was super hard to describe, too. It was on the tip of his tongue. With a jolt, he realized she had been speaking to him.

“Ahaha!” he laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry about that. You just startled me is all. Hello!” he greeted, giving a wave. “I’m Professor Birch, is there something I can do for you?”

The kid still looked really frazzled. Was it something he said? Probably the staring. Shoot, he felt bad now.

“I… I’d like to become a trainer?” She said, coming out more question than statement. There it was again. It was like some hitherto unnoticed element of speech was just… missing. He was getting distracted again. Focus!

“Ah! Really?” he said. “You’ve come to the right place, though you’re rather late. My last collection of beginner pokemon have almost all been snatched up. Come in, come in!” He motioned her to follow him. “Let’s get you registered. Did you bring your ID with you?”

“Er, I don’t- I didn’t. Is that bad?” The child slowly followed him around the room divider and sat at a table he motioned to. She fidgeted around as he raised an eyebrow.

“No, not really. It just would have made the process go a lot faster. Looks like we’ll have to do it from scratch.” He rummaged through his desk for the form. “It’s just as well, youngsters like you usually just replace the thing with your trainer cards anyway. Exciting day, huh? I bet you’ve been looking forward to this for a while. Or was this a recent decision?”

“Oh,” she said. “Um. We- I decided to become one just this morning.”

Birch hummed. “A snap choice, then? One made for yourself or were you pushed into it?” Where did he put that- aha! He pulled out a sheet and clicked a pen.

“Er.” She was still super nervous. It was almost a little funny. “It was my decision. I want to be the champion.”

He swirled that thought around as he sat in front of her. “A lofty goal. You don’t do things by half, do you? Most kids just end up doing the gym challenge. I’ll need to jot down some basic info for your card. What’s your name?”

“Astra.” She perked up at the question. Hopefully her nerves had calmed down.

He smiled. “Lovely name, Astra. I’m sure you’ll do great. No last name? Very well.” he ticked off a box at her negative. “Age?”

She paused, squinting. “14?” She said after a moment. Why did she sound like she was asking a question? Also, what? Teenager? Wow she was super short for her age. Late bloomer or genetics? He noted down her eye and hair color while he mulled it over. Liar? There wasn’t anything to gain from falsifying a trainer card. He supposed she was just short. He discarded the thought, not his business. “Step on this scale over here, Astra? I need your height and weight. Can you take off your hat?”

Astra seemed to shrink back in on herself at that. “I- I would rather not.” she stammered.

He frowned. “I need to get a measurement. I can’t do that with your hat in the way.”

She shook her head. “Can’t you get it without?” She stared at him, her red eyes pleading him to reconsider.

Odder and odder. He sighed. It rankled at him, but she was probably going to outgrow whatever he put down within a couple months or so anyway. He could just approximate upwards and be correct later. Besides, he didn’t much like stressing kids out. “Very well. Can you put your hand level with where the top of your head is?”

Almost visibly relaxing, she did as he asked. “Thank you!” he said, and marked it up a sliver. Man, she was tiny! Weight was slightly higher than expected. “Almost done, stand over here for a photo. You may strike a dramatic pose with a pokeball.” he allowed, which was rewarded with a smile. Success!

He tossed her a prop, which she held clutched to her side with one hand and then extended the other towards the camera flat and spread out. The effect was a bit lost with the excessively long sleeves as both hands were still covered. Astra glared at the camera in what was probably intended to be condescension but ended up an adorable pout.

He snapped the camera. “Very sinister. You like psychics?” He offhandedly asked as he maneuvered over to his PC. He paused to study the photo as the program booted up. Was her cloak billowing? “I think I’ve seen that pose from those shows my youngest watches.” Copy the written information over, upload the picture into the form, generate the ID number then… print!

“Done!” he announced as the big printer began to churn. After a few seconds of mechanical churn, a laminated card dropped into the exit tray. Giving it a quick once over for errors, he proudly handed the ID to the young trainer. He grinned as she stared at the little card in awe. “This card can be used as a form of identification, but you will need a different ID to operate vehicles, buy alcohol or other, non-training related things when you come of age. Congratulations Astra, you have become a pokemon trainer!”

Her gaze snapped back to him. “Thank you! “ She said in earnest. Ah! She was grinning again, he could tell. She almost had sparkles in her eyes. “Thank you so much! This- this really means a lot.” She held the card close to her. “My grandpa will be so happy.”

He scratched the back of his head and laughed. “Hey, Astra, it’s no problem. It’s always a joy to see kids like you getting out and exploring the world. But!” he held up a finger. “We aren’t even done yet! I’ve still got your introduction!”

Astra tilted her head and squinted. “...eh?”

“Oho, yes! My introduction to the pokemon world! I give it to everyone who registers with me. I mean,” he admitted, “I kinda legally have to, but it’s pretty fun.” Taking a few steps so he stood in the middle of the room, he swiveled on the spot and began.

“Welcome, to the beginning of your journey!” He announced to his audience’s wide eyes. Taking out a pokeball from his pocket, he tossed it to the ground and released his Lotad. The creature let out a sharp chitter as it peered around, then settled into place by his foot. “This world is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokemon. We humans live alongside pokemon at times as friendly playmates, and at times as cooperative workmates. And sometimes, we band together and battles others like us.”

He raised a finger. “But despite our closeness,” he continued, “we don’t know everything there is to know about pokemon. In fact, there are many many secrets surrounding them. To unravel these secrets, I and many other professors have undertaken research for our entire lives. That is what we do.”

“‘But what do I do?’ you may ask? Trainers serve a vital role in many different roles in our society. They can be defenders, they can be healers. They can be field researchers or explorers. Breeders and entertainers. They can even rise to the top of society and become the champion of all trainers! So the answer to your question is another question; ‘What do you want to do?’ The path is as open as you want it to be.”

“Your journey is about to begin, but here and now you have a choice to make. Or, excuse me,” he said, breaking script. “You don’t. At this point I would usually offer you a choice of three starter pokemon, but I’m afraid that two of my last three were taken just a few days ago.” He cast a sorrowful look at Astra, who looked a bit overwhelmed. “Apologies. If you want to come back in a week or two-”

“No! No, it’s uh. It’s fine. Now is fine.” she said, waving her arms in the negative. Hesitantly, she continued, “You’re going to just… give me one?”

He nodded. “Indeed. It’d be hard for you to get started if you had nothing of your own from the onset. Let’s get to it then, over here!” Recalling his Lotad, he motioned off to the side. Astra followed him dutifully.

Striding toward the holding machine, he hit a few buttons on the panel and watched the device hiss open. “As I said, I only have one pokemon left.” Grabbing the solitary pokeball from its divot, he turned to Astra and held it aloft. “Let’s meet him, shall we?” he grinned and tossed it into the air.

Releasing its payload, the light resolved into a green bipedal gecko with a red underbelly and leaf like tail, also known as Treecko, the aptly named wood gecko pokemon. Treecko lazily glanced around the room before fixating on Astra. The foot long pokemon dropped to all fours and scurried over to the startled girl and climbed up her leg to rest on her back. This was received with a mild shriek of alarm.

“This is Treecko.” Birch said, amused. Treecko poked his head above the beleaguered girls shoulder. Astra flinched, but when nothing came of the action, turned to look at the critter. “He is a Grass type pokemon excelling in speed. This is the only option we have at the moment. A solid pokemon even at high levels, his breed is very dependable.”

Astra stared at Treecko. Treecko blinked back, then climbed over her shoulder to her front. The girl was then suddenly cradling the pokemon, who had appropriated her arms as a bed.

“I think he likes you.” Birch observed. [Astra flicked her attention to him before returning to the Treecko in her arms.](http://i.imgur.com/KZOS1Vt.png) Ah, he recognized that look in her eye. If she didn’t walk out of here with him he’d revoke his license.

Silently, he moved closer and crouched in front of Astra. Holding out the pokeball, he smiled at her startled expression. “I suppose there’s no need for me to ask, but I suppose you’ll take him?”

“I…” She seemed lost for words, rapidly looking from the ball to him, to the pokemon snoozing in her arms. With a minor shift, she reached out and grabbed the pokeball with her sleeved hand. “Yes. I don’t- I never thought…”

“The first time is pretty heavy, yeah.” he agreed. “This Treecko is in your care now. It’s a big responsibility but I know you’re up to the task.” He gave her a smile, and received one in kind.

“Make sure to let him out at least once every day.” he continued in a new lecture. “The pokeball simulates a sort of sleep/stasis environment but it isn’t healthy without daily activity, and he needs to eat as well. It will automatically open if no activity is detected for a week. This goes for all future pokemon you capture. If you hold six pokemon, any additional ones will be automatically transferred into the PC system, which can hold any pokemon indefinitely and can be accessed from special computers located in pokecenters.”

Astra was looking decidedly more confused now. Wincing, he rubbed his head. “Man, this explanation is long winded. Just let them out now and then, exercise and feeding frequency varies.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, just one more thing. You’ll need is one of these!” With a flourish, he withdrew a shiny red card shaped device. “A pokedex is a must have tool for any up and coming trainer. It acts as a cell phone, map, camera, and payment device! It can even bring up relevant data about any pokemon you scan or capture.”

Astra shifted her arms and took the pokedex. Examining it for a moment, she fiddled with it through her sleeve and flipped the cover open. A soft ding and a cool blue light emanated from the screen. “This is…” Eyes wide, she poked a button and watched in awe as menus shifted in and out of view.

Birch raised an eyebrow. It was a big occasion, yes, but the girl acted like she’d never seen a phone before. Honestly, something weird was going on here but damn if he couldn’t glean the answer.

“Anyway,” he interrupted the new trainers reverie. “Make sure to capture as many different pokemon as you can! A varied team is critical to success in your chosen path, and the data I can gather is valuable to the study of pokemon as a whole.” He gave the girl another smile. “You have a long road ahead of you. You’ll have to garner the respect of all eight gym leaders plus the Elite Four, and then best the Champion in an all out fight to become the new one.”

Astra snapped the pokedex shut, determination written across her expression. “No matter what it takes, I will do it. That’s a promise!”

“Well, I look forward to hearing about it.” Standing back up, he motioned to the door. “ Now, I believe you have a journey to start! I wish you the best of luck, Astra.”

“Thank you!” Farewells said, Astra made a swift break for the exit. Birch waved as she walked into the distance.

He sighed. “Man, that was weirder than usual.” he muttered to himself. “At least Joshua stopped that racket.”

Stretching his arms, he wandered back to his desk and relaxed in his chair for a moment. “What was even up with her voice?” he asked to thin air. “It was sort of… clear?” He paused and ran that though through his head again. “No, not just clear. It was… a lack of echo? How would that even work? It’s not like she was... “

Birch stared at the wall for a moment. Reaching across his desk, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

_Ring ring… ring ring… ring-_

“...?”

“Hey, Brendan!” The professor said, cheer in his tone. “How’s it going? You still up in Petalburg?”

“...! ...”

“That so? Don’t stay too long, you do have quite a task ahead of you. Also, I have some news! A new trainer just came in today, picked up the Treecko.”

“...! …?”

“Ah, yeah. Her name is Astra. She’s around your age bracket, somewhat younger. Dresses strange too. Black cloak, sunhat made of grass. Green hair, red eyes, pale skin, can’t miss her. She’ll probably come by Petalburg within a day or two. Though, I don’t think Norman has gotten his beginner level team together yet, has he?”

“...? …”

“Shame. It’s just as well. I think some on the road practice would do you three some good. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. If you see Astra around, make sure to introduce yourself!”

“...!”

“Love you too, son. Say hi to May when you see her!”

“...”

_Click._

Birch tapped his desk for a moment. Swiveling his chair, he turned to his PC and pulled up his visitors new profile. Astra’s half masked face stared back at him.

“What sort of child are you?” he murmured. “To not only be capable of telepathy, but also replace normal speech with it entirely?” He bookmarked the page and set the link next to the others. He’d have to watch this one closely.

He turned back to his previous work. Now that Brendan was out of the house, maybe if he saved up for a couple months he actually could fund the trip himself? He hummed a small tune as he ran the numbers. He grimaced at the result. Possible, yes. Comfortable? No. Alas, progress knew no comforts. He had a good feeling about this.

* * *

 

The sky had begun to lose the bright blue of midday and was progressing into early afternoon as the new pokemon trainer exited the lab. She was still staring at Treecko when a voice in the forest called out to her.

“Astra!” Her grandfather motioned to her from the bushes. “Did everything go alright? Are you- oh, what’s this?” he interrupted himself as she drew closer.

Treecko opened an eye and glared at the sudden interruption. “Ko.”

“Um. This is.” Astra halted, trying to find her words. “This is Treecko. I… own him now, I guess?”

“Oh man. You really did it!” The guard broke into a look of awe. “Amazing! What was it like in there?”

“Um.” She still felt off balance. Was it supposed to be that easy? She had expected… She didn’t know. “It was very white. Everything was super shiny and there were a lot of machines scattered all over the place. There was a man inside named Birch. He asked a bunch of questions and then he gave me a card and told me I was a trainer. And then he gave me Treecko and this weird thing. He called it a pokedex. Apparently it does a lot of stuff.” She held up the red device for a brief examination. Their eyes passed over it, but returned to the creature in her arms.

“No difficulties then?” The old Kirlia peered at the lounging gecko. “Hello little creature. Treecko, was it?”

She let out a giggle as Treecko used one arm to fend off an experimental prod. “It was really easy, actually. I had to make up some stuff for a few questions. I didn’t know how many springs had passed since I was born, so I just said a random number.”

“Huh. Is that important to them? Enough to keep track, I mean. Weird.” The guard leaned against a tree. “What’s the point?”

“They age differently than we do. It would be possible for a newborn Ralts to become a Kirlia in under a week if they were put through high stress situations for an extended period of time. Wouldn’t be very healthy, but possible.” The elderly Kirlia stopped his one finger assault and glanced at the younger. “Humans are just humans their entire lives. I suspect trying to directly compare our respective levels of age would be futile. A Ralts is a child, A Kirlia is an adult. They are rather more… vague.”

“Tch. That must be complicated.” The guard tapped his foot, then turned his attention to Astra. “Hey, hey. You have a pokeball for him, right? Can I see it in action?”

“Oh? Sure, I guess. Let me just-” Shifting Treecko to one arm, Astra enlarged the ball the professor had given her. She paused to stare at it. “Um. I don’t know how.”

“Point it at him and say ‘Return’.” her grandfather supplied. The others stared at him. “What?”

“Did you learn that by eavesdropping too?” the guard smirked. “You seem to break a lot of your own rules, ya know? Makes a guy wonder.”

“Oh shush. Youth today, no respect I swear.” He grumbled.

“Return.” Astra commanded. A thin red beam shot out of the ball and enveloped Treecko. He yawned and dissipated into a swirling ball of red energy which flew into the ball. The event ended with a soft click as the sphere shrunk to its lesser size. “Amazing…” she murmured, turning the pokeball around. “How does he fit in there?”

“Must be cramped.” The guard concluded.

Her grandfather grunted. “Questions for another time. In case we’ve forgotten, we’re still right next to a human road. Gather together, we’re teleporting back home.”

“Won’t you get really tired?” Astra asked as she and the guard huddled with the old Kirlia.

He smirked. “I’ll be fine. Won’t have to rush it now that we’re in the clear. Hold tight!” With a swirl of psychic energy the three disappeared from the area, a subdued clap of air echoing in their wake.

Over in the clearing, Joshua muttered a curse as a loud noise set off the Aggron again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCK MY LIFE.
> 
> I cut this bitch in half, because I could not stand not putting something out any longer.
> 
> The next one hopefully wont take much longer. It'll be more coherent on it's own anyway.
> 
> Art by Dexexe1234


	10. Departure

Suddenly appearing within the cave she called home, Astra took a moment to reorient herself to the dim lighting. Their return was heralded with much the same reception as when they had left: nothing at all.

“Ah! We’re back!” Seeing the paint on the walls, the mural on the ceiling and the fruits scattered in jars was a great relief. She was home, and everything would be okay.

“Hmfh. I didn’t even get to do anything.” The guard muttered. Her grandpa bonked him on the head.

“Be lucky you didn’t! That this went as well as it did can only be a miracle. We’ll need many more before the final task is done.” The guard yelped and started a complaint, but was overridden. “Now, go gather everyone. We’ll announce the plan among friends and food.”

Astra tilted her head. “Everyone?”

The elderly Kirlia smiled. “Think of it as a farewell party.”

“A party? Now we’re talking!” the guard exclaimed, a new fire in his eyes. “I’ll get right on it!” He called, already halfway outside.

Watching his departure, Astra took off her hood and fiddled. “Do you think they’ll go with it?”

“Can’t very well back out now.” he remarked. “We’ve already gone partway.”  Wandering to his chair, he settled down with a weary sigh. “I haven’t walked that far in a long time. Makes my old bones sore. Would you kindly fetch me a drink?”

Astra retrieved a cup of water for him, which he accepted gratefully. “Thank you. Now, I think that it will be quite a bit before the event gets going. Why don’t you get to know your new friend better?”

Astra hesitated. “What are you going to do?”

A soft smile graced his features. “I am tired, so I think I will stay here for a bit and recover. Shoo, off with you. Leave an old Kirlia like me to his rest.” He motioned her away.

Giving one last goodbye, Astra returned to her room. The candle was relit with a thought, casting the small room into a dim light, sparkling when it flickered across the shining stones. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she tossed the pokeball into the air. With the familiar discharge, Treecko was released.

Blinking, it examined the room before turning to Astra. “...ko?” he said, visibly confused. Crawling toward his master, Treecko examined her unmasked face.

“...Um.” she said, unsure. What was…? Oh! He never saw me with the hood off, she reasoned. “It’s just me again. My name is Astra, it’s nice to meet you!” Grinning, she reached out, stroking Treecko’s back.

Treecko accepted this with closed eyes and a nudge against her hand. Leaping up, he leisurely relaxed on her lap.  Astra giggled at the display. His skin felt smooth and slightly cool to her touch, though there seemed to be a few bumps on the midpoint of his back. His tail twitched as she examined that as well. Both ‘branches’ were very thick and surprisingly tough, not giving any ground to the pressure she applied.  He also appeared to have tiny needle and hook like features on his hands and feet. Was this what allowed him to climb up her robe? Fascinating.

“Tree.” He muttered, staring up at her in irritation. A hot flush graced her cheeks at the unthinking extent of her sudden investigation.

“Ah!” she yelped, standing suddenly. Treecko took the sudden launch with grace, landing upright. “I’m sorry! I was just curious, please forgive me!” she fretted, placing her hands together.

Treecko continued to stare at her, before shrugging and looking elsewhere. Spotting the small Surskit doll, he went stiff as a board before crouching low. “Tree…” he muttered, before scurrying up the walls of the room. Astra watched with gleeful amusement as Treecko seemed to stalk the thing, crawling across the ceiling until it was directly above it.

Waiting a beat, Treecko lunged down with a fearsome cry, spinning at the last second and striking the doll with his tail and slapping it across the room. Following up, he dashed forwards and grabbed it fully with all limbs, flailing his prey against the hard rock in rapid spinning slams. Treecko released his catch after a few moments, apparently having been satisfied with the savage beatdown.

“Treecko!” He trilled, standing triumphant over the lifeless imitation. He turned towards his master; putting on smug, expectant airs as if to say ‘Did you see that?’

Astra clapped gleefully. “Amazing! You really showed that doll, didn’t you?” He really had been fast, just like the professor said. She hadn’t even been able to keep up with his strikes. Or maybe it was the dim lighting? Still, her joy was well received. Maybe her task wouldn’t be that hard after all.

Tapping her foot, she glanced around the room and laid eyes on the faded yellow ball. Grinning, she levitated the ball and made it hover over her hand. Also grabbing one of her chalky rocks, she made two arced lines on opposite sides of the room. Treecko watched this with wary curiosity, having discarded an investigation into his prey after the discovery that it was made of grass.

Grinning, she moved behind one of the lines. “Let’s see how well you do at rebound.” With that, she hurled the ball at Treecko. Reading her intentions, Treecko swirled around and smacked the ball right back with great force. “Pretty good!” She remarked, catching the ball in a shimmering square net. “I always dropped it because I couldn’t keep my field coherent, but I could always bounce it harder than everyone else could. It’ll be great practice for both of us. Let’s have a good match, yeah?”

Treecko’s eyes narrowed as he readied himself for the next assault. Astra’s psychic aura flared, signaling her intents of victory. With a burst of energy, the ball was launched and the game was on.

* * *

 

It was a few hours later when her grandfather poked his head into the room to discover both of them completely exhausted; an empty jar of berries was the only sign they had stopped for a break at all. Treecko was lying flat on Astra’s chest out cold. Astra herself was fending off the headache and mental fatigue that signified psychic overuse; mostly by lying down, holding her head and groaning.

 “Having fun?” he asked, smiling at the vaguely positive whine that resulted. “I am glad to hear it, though I think you may have overworked yourself a little.” Gesturing out of the room for a moment, he brought a very small container from the main area. “Here, I have brought distilled Leppa. It should help with your headache.”

 Astra accepted the offering with gratitude, twisting out the plug and downing a portion of the liquid within. It left a lingering spicy aftertaste, but the warmth spreading through her body and swallowing the ache between her eyes was well worth it. Sighing in relief, she sat back up and gave her grandfather a grateful smile. “I really needed that, thank you!”

 He hummed in response. “It was no trouble at all. I am glad you are getting along well with Treecko. You’ll have to face many challenges together soon enough.” A loud, rhythmic thumping began sounding from outside. “Speaking of which, the event has started. Everybody's come together, and we will make the announcement later. But first, I believe there are several magikarp waiting for you.”

 Astra glanced at Treecko. The little gecko was still out of it, and returned to his ball with nary a peep. Giving a stretch, the trainer gave a loud whoop and raced outside.

 True to his word, most if not all of the villagers had congregated in the center of the settlement. The sun hung on the edge of the sky, dim reds and oranges giving way to serene purples glowing through the branches. Alongside the main bonfire, several minor fires were scattered about, infusing the area with heat and light.

 A few arenas were set up here and there between the fires as well, impromptu games played within. She paused for a moment to witness two Kirlia face off in a game of rebound similar to the one she had just done with Treecko, except it had six balls all rapidly bouncing in erratic patterns between the two combatants. She was still tired from her own bout, so she passed on examining it further.

 Grabbing a thoroughly roasted fish, Astra spotted a lively display some distance off. A Kirlia stood next to a roaring blaze pit, manipulating burning fuel, several special rocks and a few psychic barriers to produce fantastic displays of light. A fire theater was a rare sight indeed, and the performer looked to be debuting an act she hadn’t seen yet!

She settled in amongst other Ralts, who were giving a wide berth to the fiery artist. She seemed to be in the middle of the story. Crude images borne of flame, stone and spark told of a panic infusing the village.  Several of them seemed to argue amongst themselves, and their actions increased in ferocity quickly. Infighting? But then two figures arose, taller than the others, and held their hands out for calm.

The Kirlia shifted in the shadows and tossed something into the scene. One of the two images reached into the flame below in time with this and pulled out a shocking oddity: a stone covered in purple flames. Astra voiced her awe alongside the Ralts watching with her, but couldn’t help but feel a sense of uneasy familiarity.

 The smaller figures seemed to become excited at the sight of the new item, giving praise unto the duo. The scene shifted slightly, making the duo larger. The left one was slightly shorter, and held the stone in her hand; the right one held a spear, and both had the others hands clasped in their free ones.

 The flames dissolved and reformed, painting a new tapestry of forest and brush. Symbolizing trees with fire always struck Astra as a little silly, but she couldn’t deny that the Kirlia had a way with the art. The two tall figures entered the scene, and a moment was spared to depict the effort of journey. Then they were set upon by devilish caricatures of Poochyena, the hellish light and admittedly minimalistic fighting that broke out reminded Astra very much of her awful encounter that short time ago.

 She shivered despite the warmth. She could almost hear the growling of the dogs as they rushed at the figures. The battle reached a fever pitch soon afterwards, and the two figures rose victorious amongst the pack. Then from the flame strode a monstrously large hound, sparks falling from it’s maw like spit and eyes raked with furious coals.

 [The male readied his spear, the female clutched the stone to her horn and recognition finally snapped into place, followed shortly by a hollow, bitter resentment.](http://i.imgur.com/oBq34bn.png) The magikarp in Astra’s mouth suddenly tasted of ash. Standing, she discarded what was left of the fish and walked away. She didn’t need to see the rest; she already knew how this one ended.

 She sat on a stump near one of the fires at the edge of the celebration furthest from the performance, melancholy streaking her thoughts. Not a few moments in and she was already in a foul mood, even though this was her party, in a way. Why…? She stared at the fire, searching for answers that did not come in the flickering light. Glancing back at the crowds, her gaze was drawn to those Kirla in pairs, many of them accompanied by a varying number of Ralts. One was perched atop their parents shoulders, laughing audibly and waving their arms around. She turned away, trying to ignore the ugly flash of envy.

 The fire was warm. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine a pair of strong arms, wrapping themselves around her. A voice, soft and flowing like the wind, would be muttering nothing at all, and the crackle of a deeper one would answer in return.

 A ping shattered the illusion, startlement jerking her halfway off the stump. The warm arms and soothing voices were replaced by sparking fire and empty air. Turning, she noticed that a Kirlia had taken a seat next to her. The old burn marks scattered around her coat revealed her as the performer from earlier. Was the theater over?

“Hey,” she started, leaning towards the pit. “I noticed you ran off near the end there. Came over to see how you were doing. Was it too scary, or…?” The question trailed off into silence.

Astra stared at her. Did she not…? “No.” she said, turning back to the fire. ”I wasn’t scared off.”

“Ah, that’s good, at least.” A small shift, and the fire suddenly shimmered; the smoke starting to spiral in serene swirls. “So, could I badger you for your thoughts? Spent a long time on that routine, ya know. Took me forever to figure out how to make purple fire. Why’d you leave?”

 “Why did you have to make it about them?” she blurted out, digging her hands into the stump. “Why did you have to- why here? Why now? This was supposed to be a happy party! My party! And you just- just- “ With a frustrated, strangled sound, Astra flared her psychic power. The arrangement of wood inside the fire pit was leveled with a vicious crack, showering the air with sparks.

 She stared at the dying fire in a moment of shock, before curling up on the stump. She hadn’t meant to lose her temper. She just... A sigh redirected her attention to her guest. With a minor purple glow, the shattered remains were neatly rearranged, the Kirlia birthing the fire anew.

 “I’m sorry.” Astra mumbled, staring at a piece of dirt.

 “It’s alright,” the artist replied, “I suppose it’s partially on me.” Astra peeked at her, and saw her looking right back, a strange expression on her face. “You’re her daughter, aren’t you? Their kid.”

 Astra turned away. This was all the answer her guest needed. She hummed. “Well. I can’t say I’m sorry for performing the routine.” she said, absentmindedly shaping the sparks into various patterns again. “They were heroes. I thought their story should be told.”

 “What good is that?” Astra muttered. “I don’t want a story. I want _them_. I want _that._ ” she motioned at the varied couples. “It’s not- it’s not _fair_.” She thought she should be crying, but there was nothing to remember; nothing to mourn with. Just a hollow space that would never be filled.

 “I know it’s not fair, and I know what it’s like to want people you’ve lost back.” The Kirlia sniffed in disapproval. “But I wouldn’t diss stories so fast. Sure, you can’t meet them in person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get to know them.”

 “Eh?” Astra turned to face her fully. “What do you mean by that?”

 The artist scratched her cheek. “Well, it’s not super complicated. Stories tell us what people did and how they acted, what words they said and how their actions and beliefs affected the world around them. By knowing a person's story, you also get to know the person, in a way.” She smirked. “For instance, I happen to have had a passing acquaintanceship with your mother. Got a few things to say about that. Are you sure you don’t want them?” she teased.

 “What!? You knew my mom?” Astra exclaimed, instantly hopping to her feet. She took a quick step over and bowed to the Kirlia. “I’m sorry for skipping the end, please tell me more!”

 “Woah there, easy!” she said with a chuckle. “Such a sudden change in attitude. Has nobody ever talked about her or something?”

 Astra wringed her hands in embarrassment. “Grandpa didn’t talk about her a lot, no. I don’t know anyone who knew her either. I never even really thought much about them until recently. It’s been… I dunno. A few things are happening and your performance and then the party… it kinda threw it in my face.” She threw a glance toward the crowd, then turned back to the artist. “I mean, I’ve always had grandpa, but… it’s different.”

 “Eh, I can understand that, I guess. I suppose I could tell you a few things then.” The Kirlia turned to gaze wistfully into the fire. “I guess… your mom was a lot of things. She was one of the only two Gardevoir we had for a long time. She was very pretty, talented with her psychic ability. Determined as well as motivated. Once she set a goal, she never gave up until she achieved it. She was also very energetic, outgoing, and the most extraordinarily smug bitch I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet.”

 Astra blanched.

 The fire shaper burst out laughing. “Oh fuck.” she wheezed. “The look on your _face_ -” she pulled her arms around herself and almost collapsed onto the dirt, the sound of giggling only interrupted by the occasional gasp for air.

 “What was that!?” Astra screeched. “You can’t say all these nice things then insult her!”

 “Haha! Of course I can! Like it or not, nobody exists without flaws. All those things I said before could be negative as well! Too powerful for her own good, stubborn, and liked the sound of her own voice much more than I did.” The Kirlia waved Astra's indignant retort off before it formed.

 “Ah, let me explain. She was something of a genius, you see; able to grasp and perform high level psychic techniques in a quarter of the time the rest of us did. But it was the worst type of genius; the one where she couldn’t really explain how she did it, nor comprehend why everyone else wasn’t as good as her.” The artist hopped off the stump and leaned back against it from the ground instead, gazing at the stars above. “I remember she used to get so frustrated with the rest of us because we couldn’t figure out how to teleport. She just kept doing demonstrations over and over again because she could not for the life of her put her method into words. She always looked at us with this damn pitiful gaze, oh how irritating she was.”

 She examined her hand, exotic energy wafting off it. “But I will give her some credit; even if she did think of the rest of us as incompetent, often vocally, she never stopped trying to help. Even if we probably would have been better off without the giant, loudmouth distraction she was. It was really no surprise that she was able to pass the old hag’s trial.”

 Initially fuming at the negative portrayal, Astra perked up at the faint praise and asked, “Old hag? What trial?”

 “Ah, the Ancestor. She was before your time, so you wouldn’t know. She protected the village before she vanished, but she was a mean old fart so we called her a hag. As for the trial, see, in order to become a gardevoir you have to experience a lot of things, stress most of all.” she smiled, thinking back to other days. “Our life back then was more… idyllic than right now. There really wasn’t any way to naturally become that elusive third stage. Except, if you really wanted to, you could go see the Ancestor and she’d put you through the trial. If you stuck with it you were virtually guaranteed to become a gardevoir.”

 “Oh! That sounds amazing! Why didn’t more Kirlia do it? Was it hard?”

 “Weren’t you listening? The fastest way to evolve is to undergo a lot of stress. The trial was- ugh.” The fire shaper made a face. “I won’t go into it. She basically forced a lot of stress on you for a long time. Either you evolved or you called it off. I only lasted two days before I couldn’t take it anymore; I didn’t need that sort of power to be a smith. For me it wasn’t worth the hassle, but your mom thought it was; though I have no idea why.” She shrugged. “One month later she was a gardevoir. For a few weeks afterwards she had nightmares, couldn’t look anyone in the eye, hoarded food and generally acted like a paranoid recluse. Jumped at the slightest noise. She got back to normal eventually, though I think your dad helped a lot with that. Never saw the two of them apart for more than ten minutes in those days.”

 “That sounds… harsh.” Astra felt a little uneasy at the aftereffects. For a brief moment, she imagined all sorts of nasty things that could have happened. Horrid illusions, no food, little sleep... she focused on something else. “Did you know my dad too?”

 “Hm? No, I don’t know anything about your dad, but I would bet a month of magikarp that he became a gardevoir just having to deal with your mom. Haha!” She glanced over and grimaced at Astra’s expression. “Ah, I shouldn’t joke about that, sorry. He went through the trial at some point too. There was a big ceremony at both of their evolutions. They really cared about each other. And about you, I suppose.”

 “E-eh?” Astra stammered. “They talked about me?”

 “Oh, she could not go half a day without spouting off about you. She carried your egg around everywhere she went and at the slightest provocation would start yammering and yammering for hours about it, even after the old hag vanished. It was ridiculous and annoying and kinda adorable.” She sighed. “And then the protections left by the Ancestor started to fade, and, well. She left your egg to your... grandfather, was it? She went off to save the village. She succeeded. And then she died.”

 “Ah...” Astra looked into the fire again. The blunt reminder that she was never going to meet them stung once more. But, as she imagined their voices and faces, maybe not as much as before. The voice she imagined in the wind turned peculiarly loud, and in the faint recesses of her mind, she could almost hear a melody.

 She didn’t even realize she was humming until the Kirlia asked her, “Where did you hear that?”

 “Eh?” She blushed. “I didn’t even know I was- sorry. I don’t know. It just… came to mind.”

 “Hm.” The Kirlia eyed her. “It’s funny. When she was carting your egg around, she used to hum those same few notes.”

 Her breath caught in her throat and her sight was suddenly starting to get blurry, but all she could feel was a lingering warmth that had nothing to do with the fire.

 “Th- thank you.” Astra managed, rubbing her eyes. “For telling me about her.”

 She grinned. ”It’s no problem. If you ever need anything, be sure to ask, okay?”

 “Mmm.” They sat in silence for a while, before a thought struck. “Hey, if you were… going on a long trip, what would you take with you?”

 The Kirlia raised an eyebrow. “That’s a weird question. We can’t exactly leave the forest, ya know. What, are you going somewhere?”

 “I’m just asking!” Astra said, more defensively than she would have liked.

 “Right.” She thought about it. “Probably a good, strong knife. Useful for scaling fish, cutting plants, self defence in a pinch. All sorts of things.”

 Astra pondered this. “You said you were a smith?”

 “Hm? What, do you think all these burn marks are from storytime? Yeah, I’m the only one in this place who knows how to shape metal, same as my dad, and his dad, and his mom, and so on. Not that there’s much metal here, but I can turn the odd salvage into useful things. Why?”

 “Could you make me a knife?” she asked.

 “Aaah, for what reason would you need a knife? Are you actually leaving? That’s dumb.”  The Kirlia kept one eye on her, then closed them and shrugged. “Eh, if you’re doing something reckless, that’s your problem I guess. I can’t stop you. But I suppose I’d feel bad if I didn’t do anything. So sure, but I’ve already used all my metal. Unless you have some scrap laying around, I can’t do anything.”

 “What about-” Astra hesitated, reconsidering her request, before soldiering on. “What about an old spearhead?”

 The smith grunted. “That’ll do. You have it with you? I could probably just make it right now if you want to make a show of it.”

 “Aah, Really? That sounds cool!” Astra grinned, hopping off the stump. “I’ll go get it.” She said, sprinting back to the cave.

 Her grandfather had disappeared from the main cavern. Astra went into her room and picked up the old spearhead laying on the table. It was the same as it ever was; a few patches of rust, a nick here and a scratch there.

  _“It was your Father’s.”_ her grandpa had said. _“This was the head of the spear he used in his last fight.”_

 _“Was he a guard?”_ she had asked.

  _“He was the best guard I ever knew. He was a gardevoir, and the very name bears resemblance to ‘guardian’, does it not? He was able to dismantle an entire pack of poochyena singlehandedly. He never lost his focus, nor his composure. He also made the worst jokes, and enjoyed seeing others laugh. He was particularly fond of wordplay; I remember many times where he made a seemingly innocuous comment and then got swatted about the head by your mother.”_

 He smiled, his expression old and brittle. _“I miss him terribly, and I know that he would want you to have this. A memento and promise. He fought to protect you, to protect us all, and he will watch over you from wherever he is.”_

 He dropped it into her hand, and closed his fingers around hers. _“Keep it safe, and it will do the same for you in return.”_

 She left the cave, holding the old weapon close to her chest. The Kirlia was still sitting where she had been, staring into the fire.

 “I have it.” she said, holding the item out.

 “Mm? Ah, alright then. Let me have a look.” Levitating the spearhead out of Astra’s hand, the fire shaper examined the rusted tool. “Yeah, it’s a bit rusty, but it should be enough for a nice knife.”

 She rose from the stump and stretched. “Alright then, gotta keep the soot out… uneven temperatures… ah, a challenge.” she muttered with a grin, flexing her hands. “Watch closely, kid. I don’t get to do this often.” She hovered the rusted mass over the fire pit and made a face. Astra watched the spearhead with great anticipation, but became confused when nothing happened.

 “Um-” she started, but suddenly became aware of a high pitched noise, as if a bird’s screech was paused in time. WIth wide eyes, she saw the spearhead start to vibrate intensely, cutting through the air and making a steadily rising whine. The fire from the pit was being redirected, swirling around the item in a vicious torrent. Astra vaguely noted everyone nearby covering their ears, observing the spectacle. The Kirlia was beginning to sweat, letting out a constant stream of heavy breathing.

 The spearhead suddenly became a shade of dull red, which quickly morphed into a sharp, bright crimson. Orange, yellow, white- and then it collapsed in on itself, forming a ball of unshaped molten steel. Astra uncovered her ears as the noise stopped, awestruck at the display.

 The smith gasped for air. “That’s the hard bit.” she ground out. “Time to purify and shape it.” The ball stretched itself out into a flat sheet, then crumpled back together. It did this a couple more times, each contraction ejecting unknown dregs into the pit below. ‘The rust?’ Astra wondered. After three repetitions, the metal was brought back together into a rough, thin brick shape.

 Then, very slowly, the Kirlia manipulated the brick to fit a mental pattern. A flat piece for the handle was carved out, followed by the blade itself. Small blobs of metal rolled to and fro as one side was compressed into an edge, lengthening the tool. The smith grunted as her work was completed, and carefully levitated it out of the searing pit. With a twist of her wrist, the metal rapidly reverse shifted in color, from the molten white back to orange, red, and finally a shiny grey.

 The knife fell into the smiths hand fully formed. She then collapsed to her knee, panting and clearly exhausted. “Well,” she said, looking at Astra once more. “I hope you enjoyed that. It’s really hard, ya know?”

 Astra’s reply was drowned out by a sudden applause. Looking around, she suddenly became aware that a group of people had congregated around the scene; all of them quite amazed. Astra grinned and joined in, clapping her hands. “It was amazing!” she cheered.

 The smith smirked. “You know it!” she crowed, staggering to her feet and taking a theatrical bow to the onlookers. “Okay, okay! Off with all of you! Show’s over!” she said, waving them off. With a few last cheers, the gathered crowd dispersed. The Kirlia sat back on the stump with a huff, examining the knife she had made.

 “Ah, can I see?” Astra asked, suddenly right next to the drained smith.

 “Sure, it is yours, after all.” Flipping it so the blade was in her palm, she extended the handle to it’s rightful owner.

 “So cool!” Astra breathed, investigating her reforged memento. The knife’s shape was rather basic, but there appeared to be decorative silver swirls embedded into the steel, giving it a hypnotic appearance. “How did you make it look like that?” she asked, turning back to the artist. “The spear head was just grey!”

 “Ah ah, that’s a secret.” The smith winked. “I’ll pass that down to my kids, when I get around to that. It’s just cosmetic though; the really neat bit is the edge. Can I have that back for a second? Thanks.” Plucking a blade of grass from the forest floor, she held the knife edge up. “Watch carefully!”

 Astra gasped as the single piece of grass floated onto the edge and divided with nary a movement. “That’s amazing! I didn’t know things could get that sharp!”

 “Haha, well. I’m glad you like it. It’ll last you for a long time, even more if you treat it right. Take care of it, you hear me?” She flipped the knife over again and handed it back. “It’d be more comfortable with a proper handle, but you can just wrap some grass around it for now.”

 With that, she got to her feet and stretched her arms out, making a cracking noise as she twisted her spine. “Ahh, sweet relief. Anyway, I’m beat. I’m going to go see if they brought out the fermented stuff yet, maybe get hammered.” She winked, then turned and started walking. “When you turn into a Kirlia, come see me. We’ll share a drink!”

  Astra stuck her tongue out. “Fermented drinks are nasty!”

 “Haha, we’ll see! Later kid!”

 Sending her own farewell, Astra watched the Kirlia gradually vanish in the throng. She lingered at the fire for a small time, pulling up blades of grass and sprinkling them on her knife, watching them cut themselves on their own weight. She admired it a moment more before turning her attention skyward. The moon was large and full, casting its light where the fire did not reach.  “I wonder what you would say, if you saw this. Would you like it? I think you might have.” she mused to empty air.

 “I believe he would.” A voice said, then laughed at Astra’s startled shriek. She twisted around, finding her grandfather holding a hand over his mouth and grinning gently.

 “What was that for!?” she said, glaring.

 “Ah, can an old bag like me not have fun?” he gave a  mock gasp. “How presumptuous of me. I should go and sit with all the elders and talk about berries through the night then.”

 Astra pouted. “You’re supposed to warn people before you sneak up on them!”

 “So you are!” he chirped, smiling at her exasperated groan. “I see you’ve picked up a new tool. Or perhaps, an old one made anew?”

 “Oh, ah…”

 “It’s quite alright. It used to be his old spearhead, yes?”

 “Y-yeah… I didn’t know where else to get it and-”

 He patted on her head, gently smiling. “You do not have to justify yourself to me. He wasn’t one much for sentimentality, at least in objects. He would approve of this. May I?” At Astra’s hesitant nod, he picked up the tool for a moment, examined it, and returned it a second later. “She does good work, much like her predecessor. The artistry is new, though.”

 “Yeah.” Astra nodded. “She knew a lot about my mom too. Why have I never met her before?”

 Her grandpa shrugged. “I am not acquainted with her; it could simply be that the places you two frequent do not overlap. In any case, have you enjoyed the party? The time has almost come.”

 Astra glanced back at the reshaped bonfire for a moment. “I learned a lot, but I didn’t really get to do anything. I had some carp and saw half of her theater. The forging was super cool though!”

 “Really? Not even the shadow dance? You love the shadow dance!” At her negative, he grumbled. “Perhaps afterward. We should prepare for the announcement. I’ve forewarned the other elders in advance to head off conflict.” With a grin and a flash of light, he summoned a stiff plant fiber pack to his hand. “I’ve also acquired a bag for you. Just in time as well, you seem to be acquiring a great many things as of late.”

 “It’s almost like I’m going somewhere.”  Astra gave a cheeky grin at her grandfather’s chortle.

 “That you are! Now, I want you to go retrieve Treecko, then meet me by the stage next to the grand bonfire. We’ll begin afterwards.”

 Astra took the bag, nodding. “I’ll be right back!” she said, storing her knife in a convenient loop.

 Hurrying back to the cave for the last time, she retrieved both Treecko’s pokeball and the empty one, along with the mysterious Pokedex. Stuffing both into her new bag, she dashed back outside as a general psychic ping resonated through the camp. Weaving through the gathering crowds, she made it to the stage with time to spare. She spotted her grandfather communicating with another elderly Kirlia as she approached.

 They were talking privately, so she could not overhear them. “I’m here!” she announced, alerting them to her presence. Her grandfather broke off the conversation with his companion with a silent glare, then turned to her with a grin.

 “Good, good, we can begin-” he said, but was cut off by the other Kirlia. She was old as he, though perhaps not quite as much, and her face seemed set into a perpetual scowl. She had the same drooping coat and wrinkled face all elders did, though her hair had not yet lost its emerald hue.

 “Hmfh!” she snorted, eyeing her. “So you are the one? Ridiculous. Even if I were to condone this action, we should send a Kirlia. Not some brat, no matter who her parents are. She is a _child_ ; have you no shame in sending her into such danger?” she said, turning back to her grandfather and not letting Astra get a word in.

 Her grandfather sighed in exasperation. “I keep telling you, Astra has already proven herself by traversing a city and helping defeat a pack of poochyena. She is the one who fooled the Professor!”

 “And there you go again with this ‘Astra’ business! Since when did we need names? It’s ridiculous; are psychic signatures not good enough?”

 “Enough!” He snarled. “We have been arguing in circles for the entire night! I will hear no more of your objections. You were outvoted, so the plan is going through.”

 “Still, the _stone_!? I must still protest that! Even if-”

 “The argument is over!” he said, swiping his hand between them. “I must speak to my granddaughter. Let us be.”

 “Tch.” The crone glared at her grandfather. Turning to Astra, she said, “Our village is relying on you, so don’t do anything foolish.” She stared at her for a moment, then shook her head and muttered as she walked away. “This asinine plan will get us all captured or worse, I swear.”

 Astra had been speechless for the entire exchange. It was the first time someone had openly derided her in such a crass manner. “What is her deal!?” she exploded. “I did all that stuff and she just goes and treats it like nothing?”

 “I don’t much care for her either.” her grandfather admitted. “Even when our decisions align, she makes it difficult to agree. Not to mention her… distasteful opinions.” He frowned. ”In any case,” he continued, “Let us begin. Have you gotten all of your things?”

 Astra glared at the retreating Kirlia for a few moments more before she let out a sigh. “Yeah. The pokeballs, the pokedex, my knife, it’s all here. What do I do?”

 “You will be demonstrating your friend on my mark, nothing more. I myself will be explaining the plan and what comes next.” He glanced at the full crowd. “No more time. We have to go.”

 Following dutifully, Astra climbed the steps to the podium after her grandfather. Upon reaching the plateau, the reflexively shied away from the sheer number of eyes suddenly upon her. She hadn’t really comprehended the scope of how many people existed in her community, having always been in the crowd during the few times an assembly was called, but there were clearly over several hundred in the crowd. Maybe even a thousand?

 “Silence!” her grandfather boomed, quieting the general murmurs of the gathering. “We have gathered here today for a very unusual announcement. But first, a bit of recollection is in order. Now, as you know, our dear Ancestor vanished from our community many seasons ago.” With that announcement, a general unease set into the gathered pokemon, whispers coming from every direction. Attention now mostly off her, Astra felt rather more comfortable in front of the crowd. Maybe she could get used to this.

 “This,” he continued, “Has lead to the slow deterioration of the protections she let behind. Every  misdirecting barrier fell long ago, and with them the deflection of the wild Poochyena which lie outside our territory. Which led to-” His breath caught for a moment, but he pressed on, “Which led to my son and his wife sacrificing themselves to destroy the Alpha Mightyena before it could lay waste to our people. As of now, we have no Gardevoirs, minimal defences, and failing obstructions to the humans outside.” The whispers in the crowd turned fearful. Astra worriedly noted the undercurrent of despair emanating through the crowd.

 He held up a hand to quell the noise. “Yesterday afternoon,” he said, gazing at the crowd intently, “My granddaughter traveled into human territory, and infiltrated deep into the the city to the north.” Astra gulped as the entire congregation was suddenly concentrated on her. It wasn’t quite as bad as the first time, but after a moment she averted her eyes from the staring masses and focused on her grandfather.

 “She went among them undetected, and learned that they had begun to expand their holdings even beyond the massive areas they already held. Among the almost unbelievable report of travel to the moon itself, we now know that they will eventually expand into the forest once more. It is clear to us that discovery is no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.”

 “What!?” “ The moon? No way.” “Here?” “How will we stop them?” “Those damn bastards!” “Where will we go?” “I’m not living my life in a damn ball!” “This is a trick, right? Some cruel prank?” “No no no no…” The crowd erupted into panicked jitters, accusations and general mayhem.

 “Quiet!” Gramps ordered. “I said QUIET!” He blasted out a psychic siren, forcing everyone to shield their minds from the onslaught for a moment. Astra noted that only the Kirlia had been effected; the Ralts were looking confused, prodding at their parents as they recovered.

 “I am sure many of you are worried at these declarations,” he said as order was restored. “And I can assure you that we have found a solution to weather the oncoming storm. Shortly after I received this news, my granddaughter suggested to me an audacious plan. One that could solve our problem for good!”

 “With no time to waste, we set out to enact stage one of this plan immediately. Traveling far to the east, we infiltrated the very origins of the trainers, and deceived them soundly! And thus, for the first time in history, we are not merely pokemon! We are equals!”

 Astra shook jumped as she received a psychic nudge. Looking over, she saw her grandpa nodding at her. Gulping she stepped forward and grabbed her pokeball.

 “I present to you my granddaughter, Astra the Trainer!” Her cue struck, Astra tossed the pokeball high into the air, where it opened with its buzzing energy. The lightning resolved into the form of her Treecko. Gasps and murmurs shot through the crowd as Treecko blinked back at the crowd.

 “She has a pokeball!” “What is that creature?” “It’s cute!” “Does she control it?” “What does this mean?”

 “As you can see, we have stolen the humans’ ability for ourselves!” her grandfather continued as Treecko scampered back to his master, choosing this time to lay atop her head. There was a few bits of laughter in the crowd as she stumbled under the sudden, awkward weight. “Through cunning disguises and masterful deception, Astra infiltrated a Professor's lab and obtained this right.”

 “Our plan is this: come tomorrow morning my granddaughter will travel into the human world and obtain the title of Champion. This will allow her to extend great influence of all the humans of this land! With this control, she will ban the humans from interfering with our lives! No longer will we have to hide! No longer must we live in fear of discovery!” He shouted, raising his hands to to the sky. “Let us celebrate, my dear friends! For soon, we shall be free!”

 The crowd cheered in response, a deafening mass approval coursing straight into Astra. She stared, awed by this display of approval. She trembled for a bit, before striking her own fist in the air, pokeball glimmering in the firelight.

 “They’ll never know what hit them!” She shouted, and the cacophony redoubled in response. She basked in the feeling, an entire crowd pouring their belief into her. For a moment, she almost felt like she was going to float away... Her grandfather knelt down and patted her shoulder, knocking her out of her reverie.

 “Seems there was nothing to worry about, hm?” he said. Astra stared at him, then broke into a smile which he returned. Standing back up, he returned his attention to the crowd. “Settle down, settle down!”, he called, waiting until the last of the praise fell away. “Today is going to be our last day for overt actions like this for a long while. Starting tomorrow, we must begin to prepare for inevitable discovery by the wider world. So, with hope in your hearts and life in your souls, enjoy the night!”

 Giving one last cheer, the gathered peoples began to disperse back to their activities. A few Kirlia stayed behind, looking less enthused and clearly waiting to bombard Gramps with questions. More notable to Astra was the rather large group of Ralts attempting to crowd the stage.

 “You’re going to be a trainer?” “Can I see your pokemon?” “How did you sneak through a city?” “Did you see a human? Tell me what they were like!” They all shouted, each trying to be heard over the others. Astra rubbed the back of her head, chuckling nervously.

 Her grandfather smiled at this and gave her a small nudge forward. “Go talk to your friends. I don’t think you’ve spent any time at all with them for a while now.”

 “I’ve been busy.” She agreed. Still, the negative looks on the adults made her hesitate. “Those Kirlia look kinda mad. Will you be ok?”

 “I am sure they just have a few reasonable worries about the plan. Don’t worry so much,” he chided. “I am not some fragile leaf quite yet. Go enjoy yourself.”

 “Alright then. I’ll see you later!” she waved and took off; only to immediately go off balance and fall on her face. Recovering, she rubbed her face as laughter erupted among the Ralts below.

 “Treecko.” her companion said, poking his head out from atop her scalp.

 “Okay! Off with you.” Astra commanded, picking Treecko off her head. A moment of arranging later, he was relaxing in the crook of her arm, resting his head on her shoulder. “So lazy,” she muttered, poking his snout.

 “Tree.”

 She finally walked off the platform and was assaulted on all sides by her curious friends. Question after question assailed her, garbled into meaningless noise by sheer quantity. She even had to swat a couple prying hands reaching for her pokemon.

 “Hey! HEY!” she shouted, annoyed. “One at a time! I can’t even understand you. And stop with the hands!” She shot a look at a particularly grabby Ralts, who shied away.

 “Since when did you get a name?” asked a different Ralts. “None of us have names!”

 “Oh.” Astra was surprised. She was almost sure the first question would be about Treecko or humans. Well, maybe it was about the latter, kind of. “I have one because all Humans do, and Humans all have personal names because they can’t talk like we do. So I guess they need other ways to grab attention?”

 “Oh.” “That’s so sad! How do they share emotions?” “I want a name!” “Oh, yeah! If she gets one I want one too!” Their chittering grew excited as everyone latched onto the concept.

 “Well, My grandpa gave me mine. Maybe your parents could help there?” Astra suggested.

 “Nah, my parents are lame. I’ll name myself! I’ll be… Starsurge!” the newly proclaimed Starsurge announced.

 “Wah! So cool!” one of the onlookers exclaimed.

 “Ooh, Me next! I’ll be… ah… Pyre!” said an excitable Ralts. He was bouncing off both feet, looking like hatching season had come early. “They’re super hot, you know!”

 “I wanna be Acorn!” Said a smaller girl.

 Starsurge shot Acorn a look. “What? That’s lame!”

 “I like acorns!” Acorn pouted. “They taste good.”

 “I think it’s nice.” Astra offered.

 The other Ralts were still brainstorming or looked disinterested in the exercise. “Can I see your pokemon?” one asked, attempting to edge through the crowd for a closer look. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the forest.”

 “Ah? Yeah, I don’t think he’s from around here. I got him from the professor.” she explained, shifting around so they could get a better look.

 Treecko opened one eye in an annoyed glare. “Ko.”

 “The professor? Was that the human who makes trainers?”

 “Yeah. He was nice. He just had me answer a few questions and took a picture.”

 The Ralts looked confused. “What’s a picture?”

 “It’s like…” Astra frowned and stared at the canopy above. It was like… “Oh! It was like when you look in some water and see yourself, except the image is frozen and on paper.” Reaching back, she took her Trainer ID out of her bag and showed it to everyone. They all let out an ‘ooooh.’ as they saw the image frozen on the card.

 “That’s amazing!” Pyre said. “You look really silly though. Whats with the black stuff?”

 “I had to disguise myself to not immediately get captured.” she explained, taking the card back. “I had to get a crash course in illusions to pull this off. It wasn’t super hard. When I talked to the professor I just let his own preconceptions do the job for me.”

 “I see.”

 “Hey,” Starsurge butted in, “Can your pokemon do any tricks?”

 “Yeah, I wanna see a trick!” Acorn shouted, a happy gleam in her eyes. Most of the Ralts had backed off a bit to listen in without intruding, but they all came in close at the suggestion.

 “Ahh, well! I don’t know!” Astra shrugged. “I just met him this morning. I guess we could try. What do you suggest?”

 “I want an acorn!” said Acorn, pointing up into the trees. Astra followed her finger and spotted a particularly large nut hanging from an upper branch.

 “I think he could do that, yeah.” Shifting around, she put Treecko on the ground, much to his annoyance. “Hey,” she said catching his full attention. “Can you go get that acorn up there, please?”

 Treecko huffed, then took a moment to observe the designated tree. After a moment, he shrugged.

 “Ko.”

 WIth that, he shot off, reaching the base of the tree in only a few moments. Treecko scurried up the bark into the canopy above in the blink of an eye. Dashing across the branches, he arrived at the designated nut only fifteen seconds after he started. Snapping the acorn from its stem, Treecko dropped from the trees and landed with nary a sound right where he had started, to thunderous acclaim.

 “Treecko!” he said, presenting the acorn. Astra plucked it from his hands and stroked him along the back, grinning.

 “Good job, Treecko!”

 “That was amazing!” Acorn exclaimed. “He was so fast! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything move like that!”

 “He was pretty good at rebound too. Here’s the acorn.” Astra added, handing it to the same named Ralts.

 “Good at rebound, huh?” Starsurge wondered aloud, “A non psychic? I’ve gotta see this.”

 “Well then!” Astra grinned at her pokemon. “You up for another round?”

 A dangerous gleam entered Treeckos eye. “Treecko. Tree!”

 Astra laughed. “Let’s show them what we can do!”

 “I think there’s an empty field that way. Follow me!” Pyre dashed off, and all the Ralts followed in kind.

 And so the party continued into the night. Delicious foods were eaten, artistic displays were appreciated, competitions were held and for one night all was well. The fires burned low and were extinguished, and Astra returned home, a sleepy Treecko in tow.

 Her grandfather was waiting inside the cave, staring thoughtfully at a somewhat ornate box on the table. Setting her backpack near the door, Astra called out a greeting.

 “Hm?” her grandfather started, then relaxed. “Ah, you are back. Did you enjoy yourself?”

 “Yeah, everything was great!” she confirmed. “Everyone really liked Treecko. We even won a few games of rebound!” She hadn’t had that much fun a long time. Treecko hadn’t been a half bad partner, even with him not being psychic. Becoming the center of so much attention wherever she went wasn’t unpleasant either. Her mood dampened when he didn’t quite match his expression with her own.

 “I am glad. Come, sit down. There is one last issue to discuss before the day of your departure comes.” He motioned to a stone chair next to him, but then reconsidered.  “Ah, first go put your friend to bed.”

 Astra laid Treecko to rest in her room, then sat next to her grandfather. “What’s in the box?” she asked.

 He made a humming noise. “That is what I wish to speak to you about. It… hm. How should I put this…” he muttered. “I suppose I’ll start with the origin.”

 “Eh? Origin of what?”

 “The artifact within the box, of course.” he let out a sigh. “It is a very powerful item. It was left behind by the Ancestor when she vanished; the circumstances of which were always very odd. She had always been a secretive sort, but in the weeks before, she had started spending increasingly large amounts of time in solitude. And then one day, she simply walked into her home and never left. I believe it was your father who discovered that she had disappeared; the only thing remaining was an orb.”

 “An orb? Wait, _that_ orb?” Astra’s expression turned from curious to shocked in an instant.

 “Yes.” Reaching to the chest, her grandfather meticulously unlocked the mechanism holding it closed. Reaching inside, he pulled out a spherical object heavily wrapped in brown cloth. It seemed to glow darkly, even through the material.

 “This is the object she had left behind. We have no idea what it is precisely, but your parents both investigated it and discovered that it had the potential to transfer an incredible amount of energy into whomever used it. It was certainly left behind by the Ancestor, but we still don’t know why she left. Was she dying and wished to leave us a method to protect ourselves? I am unsure.”

 “I do not trust this thing.” he said, beginning to unwrap it. “But as it was in the first instance of its use, we may not have the luxury of caution.” The last piece of cloth fell away, leaving the artifact. It was about twice the size of an apple, and perfectly smooth. It was colored like a deep moonless sky; Black and shot through with streaks of throbbing purple veins shaped in a peculiar pattern, akin to a spiraling ladder that tapered off to a point on both ends. What was more alarming was the rather large looking crack that streaked across its surface.

 “This is…” she muttered, staring into the sphere. “This is the thing my mom used, isn’t it?”

 He nodded. “I am afraid so. The Alpha Mightyena was a true freak of nature, thrice as large as any of it’s kind ought to be. Coupled with its immunity to our psychic abilities, they had no choice to bring its power to bear. There were no direct witnesses to the fight itself, but we could clearly feel the conclusion even from here. We’ve theorized many causes, but in the end all we know is how it ended.”

 He took on a grim expression. “All we felt was a sense of overwhelming hatred and despair, followed by a mighty shockwave. There’s a small desert there now.“ He murmured. “Filled with sand and anguish. No life will grow, and even the sky looks darker from within. The Mightyena was a smear upon the ground, but the backlash was too great. We had lost them both.”

 He tapped the orb on the marred surface. “This thing also gained an alarming fracture, though it appears to be internal as the surface still feels smooth. It also seems to work as it did before, though it doesn’t connect as well with me, or other Kirlia for that matter, as it did your parents. For all my distrust, I’ve had no adverse reactions when using it, simply a rather large increase to my psychic ability.”

 This thing… it had killed them, hadn’t it? For a moment, Astra felt an overwhelming desire to smash the thing on the ground. “Why are you showing this to me?” she asked, frowning.

 “Simply put, I want you to take it with you when you leave.”

 “Wh- what!?” Astra exclaimed. Take it with her? Wasn’t this thing dangerous? “What do you mean? Didn’t this thing blow up?”

 “It is an emergency measure.“ He explained. “This plan of ours is quite literally the only chance we have to free ourselves of the humans domination.” He put a hand on her shoulder and knelt to her level. “I would prefer if it does not become necessary at all, but should you ever find yourself discovered or in a hopeless situation, I want you to have one last failsafe. Do whatever it takes to stay alive and well. I can’t lose you too. I- I _can’t_...” He pulled his granddaughter into a hug, shaking.

 Astra wrapped her arms around him in return. “I’ll make it through to the end. I’ll come back home. I promise.” she said, burying her head into his shoulder. She didn’t like seeing him like this. Gramps wasn’t supposed to cry. She just squeezed, and hugged him as hard as she could.

 “It’s all I can ask for.” he murmured in return. After a moment, he chuckled to himself and pulled away. “Ha, look at me. I’m getting so emotional in my old age. Your grandmother would have had a fit.”

 Pulling back as well, Astra watched as he wrapped the orb inside the cloth once more, closing the chest. “I don’t mind.” She said. “Sometimes I can get worked up too.”

 “A bunch of drama lovers, we are!” he agreed. “Well, we have a big day tomorrow. Have a good night, Astra. I’ll see you in the morning.” That said, he ambled over to his own little room carved into the cavern, brushing past the curtain doorway and disappearing from view.

 “Good night!” she called in return. Yawning, she turned to go back to her own room. Her bed was calling feverently. And yet… her gaze flickered back to the box containing the artifact and back to her grandfather’s door, as if he would emerge in a flash to chastise her for staying up even a moment more.

 Satisfied that he would probably not jump out unexpectedly, she returned to the table and stared at the box. Climbing onto the stead, she re-opened the chest and brushed aside the cloth. The orb sat there, the central structure frozen inside the inky void within, the blemish still seeming to swallow a good third of the surface.

 She didn’t like it. It had saved her people, sure, but it had taken so much from _her_. Mixed feelings swirled around her mind, confusion and anxiety foremost. How was she even supposed to use this thing? What were they thinking? If her mom, a Gardevoir, was unable to handle it, how could she?

 Except, she remembered, Gramps said that he had tested it and he hadn’t exploded, so maybe they didn’t use all of it at once? Hesitating a brief moment, she reached out to stroke the surface of the orb. It was cold, was the first thought she had. It was absurdly, impossibly cold. Not freezing, but just barely. It was smooth too, but oddly… sticky? Her hand came away without any issue, and there was no residue; but there was a sense of resistance when she pulled away. How peculiar.

 Maybe… she should test it. Just a bit, to be sure. Resting her hand back upon the sphere, she took a calming breath. Accessing her psychic ability, she reached past the surface of the orb and _the world fell  a p a r t._

 

* * *

 

  _He found me._

_In the ruin of a tree._

_When the rain had outlasted the sun._

_He had come, seeking shelter from the storm._

_A mere boy._

_But yet, I was a child as well._

_We came face to face that day._

_In the hollow where the wind sang, but did not reach._

_And the water pattered, but did not pool._

_We were scared him of me, and I of him._

_And yet._

_He did not run._

_He smiled._

_And said,_

_Hello._

_We talked._

_About many things._

_He told me tales of his home._

_I told him stories of the forest._

_He told me tales of his family._

_Of a strong man._

_And a kind woman._

_But I could not._

_For mine had gone._

_He spoke to me of music._

_And sang for me a song._

_I showed him how to dance._

_And he tried to follow along._

_We collapsed._

_And laughed the night away._

_The sky grew light._

_The rain had ceased._

_And the boy had to leave._

_I would be alone again._

_For I had nowhere to go._

_He said._

_"Come with me."_

_"My home shall be yours."_

_He offered his hand._

_And smiled._

_I reached out in return._

_And walked with him_

_Side by side._

_“We will be together forever.”_

_He lied._

 

* * *

 

 Astra’s senses returned to her with a gasp as she jerked back from the box. She wobbled dangerously on the chair and toppled sideways onto the floor, disoriented and sporting a splitting headache.

 “What?”

 There was no answer. Slowly, Astra pulled herself back up, staring at the box all the while. Was that… a vision? The older Kirlia could sometimes get forewarned of strange events as much as five minutes into the future, but it wasn’t going to rain anytime soon. She didn’t understand, and her head was pounding too much to think straight.

 “I never should have poked it.” she griped, clutching her head. “Just what was that…?” With no revelations in sight, Astra returned to the table. Staring suspiciously at the orb, she closed the box again and retired to her room. She was too exhausted to make any sense of this.

 She laid down next to Treecko and instantly fell asleep. In her fading dreams, a boy and a girl danced between the raindrops, laughing until the sun came up.

 

* * *

 

Morning came, and with it a flurry of activity along with the final farewell. Guard and Grandfather at her side, she departed from the village one last time. A small horde of villagers waved from the dwindling boundary of her home.

 “You better keep that knife sharp, you crazy girl!” The smith called, lounging atop an elevated platform. “We still need to get that drink!”

 “Bring back a whole bunch of stories!”  called one of the Ralts from last night.

 “Something tasty too!” added the newly named Acorn.

 Astra, wrapped in her black cloak, sunhat, and carrying the backpack stuffed with items and preserved food, glanced back at the village one last time. The sight of so many people cheering her on brought with it a sense of renewed confidence, and she couldn’t help but to smile back.

 She gave the spectators a big thumbs up, determination and a fierce grin adorning her face. “I’ll do my best!” she called. She continued on, silence returning as the cheers eventually dwindled into the distance.

 The guard chuckled at her enthusiasm. “You really are something, aren’t you? I suppose this is the last time you’ll be needing me to walk you somewhere, eh?”

 Astra hummed. “Next time you see me, I’ll have all sorts of pokemon! Maybe I’ll even be a Kirlia. I think that’ll be better than any dumb old guard.” she teased.

 “Oi,” the guard drawled. “Hows that any repayment for my services? I’m hurt.” He tapped his chest, mock sadness in his expression. “”Right here. Totally shattered. Why, I might not survive the night! Oh woe is me- ow!”

Her grandfather had whacked him across the head. “Stop that!” he said, but he was smiling too.

Eventually, they slowed, and came upon their destination. Several meters in front of them, the forest gave way to Route 102, where Astra was almost captured only a few days prior.

“This is it, I guess,” the guard said. “I don’t think you need me saying it too, kid. But still, stay safe, yeah? I don’t want all my hard work going to waste, after all.”

 Astra glared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes and gave the Kirlia a hug. “Thanks for protecting me.”

 “Hey, hey!” The Guard stammared. “It was no big deal, really! Jeez…” He grumbled for a moment, then patted the short girl on the head. “Look after yourself, alright?”

 “I will.” Astra said, releasing him. He smiled, then partially retreated into the trees. That left only her and her Grandpa, both staring at the road. All that could be heard was the soft murmurs of distant wildlife.

 “This is the last time we will see each other for quite some time. I can’t help but say that I am worried that it may be our last,” he said, gazing ahead wistfully.

 “It won’t be,” she countered. Turning to him, she gave her grandfather the biggest grin she could. “I’ll come back soon! You’ll see. And I’ll tell you all about where I’ve been and what I’ve done.”

 “Is that a promise?”

 “The most important one I’ll ever keep!”

 He chuckled. “Is that so? I suppose I’ll accept it. From here on out, you are on your own.” Kneeling down, he pulled his granddaughter into one last hug. “Know that I believe in you, and that I love you. You will do great things.”

 “I love you too, grandpa.” Astra said, and felt tears pool in her eyes.

 For a moment, they both reached out with their minds and hearts, connecting on a level deeper than any physical touch could. Memories were shared on an intimate level; times spent fishing or playing, laughing at bad jokes or smashing berries, painting and listening to drizzling rain. Emotions too, of shared happiness and sadness, melancholy and even mutual annoyance.

 All these feelings and experiences swirled together, gathered and replayed over an instant...

 It could only be described as love.

 The moment ended, and they separated, sad but smiling nonetheless. Astra wiped at her eyes and nodded. Her grandfather nodded in return, for there was nothing else to say.

 Astra left the clearing behind, watched over by two sets of eyes, and stepped onto the road. It was wide, made of hard soil packed together by years of traffic. The trees surrounding formed a shady canopy, the air cool. In front of her, a picked-clean berry bush was planted. She stared at it for a moment, idly touched the ball in her pocket and smiled.

 Turning west, she started walking. Toward a new beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prologue fucking DONE.
> 
> Holy shit. I'm so relieved that I made this milestone.
> 
> Finally, the actual pokemon journey promised by the premise can begin.
> 
> And as usual we have our protagonist gathering some Interesting Items like the start of a bad HP fanfic that made it to diagon alley.
> 
> If your SoD is broken by the pyromantic smith, I will point out that it is technically possible for Kirlia to learn a fire move (Will o Wisp), albeit by TM. I merely took that instance and expanded it.
> 
> Many thanks to my Main Beta IronyOwl and miscellaneous betas.
> 
> Art is as usual by the talented Dexexe1234.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!


	11. Path

It was mildly disappointing, Astra mused, that her heartfelt departure would be met with monotony. It wasn’t that she was asking for problems! But…

She glanced around Route 102 for the dozenth time. It was the same as it had been at the start, albeit with more patches of untended grass. A few times it would veer north or south over hills to bypass outcroppings of trees, seemingly at random. There had even been a few Oran and Pecha bushes. She had considered grabbing some, but her pack was already stuffed with various berry products and dried fish. And that’s all she had seen; not even a wild pokemon had accosted her.

Astra sighed. If she remembered the distance from her village to the city right, and her location on the trail relative to that, it would still be quite a while before it came into sight. She hadn’t known what to expect, really. Perhaps that she would face down a horde of other human trainers upon this one road, each one vying to strike her down before she could continue? It felt a little foolish, in retrospect.

There was, simply put, not really anything happening at the moment. Her mind wandered, feet plodding onward aimlessly. For the sake of it, she plotted out what to do once she reached her destination again. She needed to find and defeat ‘Gym Leaders’, and… she had no idea where they all were. She had a pretty good guess for the first, but all eight couldn’t be in one place, could they?

For the first time, Astra realized that she had no idea where to go after she reached the city ahead, either in failure or success. She screamed into the fabric of her cloak, the sound muffled by the layered fabric. What was she supposed to do there!? She didn’t know! She-

...Wait. Wait! She had forgotten! Stopping for a moment, she lowered her backpack to the ground and rooted through a pocket, retrieving the rectangular device the Professor had given her. The shiny red casing of her Pokedex glinted in the morning light.

She had mostly ignored the small device in all the excitement of receiving Treecko and the party thereafter, but surely it could help her figure out what to do? What had he said? ‘Cell phone, map, camera, and payment device’. She didn’t know what a cell phone or camera was, nor what ‘payment device’ meant, but a map she recognized.

Re-equipping her backpack, she continued down the road, fiddling with the buttons. How did she activate it? The two buttons on the right did nothing, nor did the cross shaped pad on the left, the two small buttons to the lower right of that fared much the same. Two buttons on the corners of the top side similarly failed to produce any result, although she did notice an odd, square recess with some sort of prong in the middle. ‘Ext’? She didn’t understand.

The backside didn’t have anything special on it aside from some screws. Was this how it was put together? The bottom, however, produced a small switch on the left, conveniently labelled ‘On / Off’. Opposite that, There was another round recess on the opposite side accompanied by some sort of wheel embedded into the corner. They were labelled ‘Phones’ and ‘Volume’ respectively. Volume? Ah, so this controlled some sort of sound function.

Astra grinned at the sight of the power switch, and reached out to flick it, but stopped dead in her tracks at a sudden thought. Turning back to the phone's hole and the volume wheel, she stared at the helpful labels intently.

She did not recognize these symbols. She had never seen any of these before. In fact, she could not recall a single instance where she’d come across any writing in the village at all. How was she reading these things? Where had the understanding come from?

The letters suddenly felt extremely alien and unsettling. Disquiet and fear battled within her mind as Astra returned her attention to the surrounding forest; as if some culprit was hiding in the shadows, sinisterly… helping her read? Astra considered that a bit silly, but the discomfort remained. Someone had messed with her head, implanted comprehension where before there was none. Helpful as it was, Astra felt violated. You weren’t supposed to _do_ that.

She stood there for a few more moments, thoughts going in circles. Eventually, she shook herself out of her stupor. Astra had no idea what had caused this, or even any way to begin figuring that out. Furthermore, she had a job to do. Still vaguely uneasy, she snapped the switch to the ‘on’ position.

Just like in the lab, a brilliant white screen appeared, which was filled in by an unknown, but colorful logo. A moment later, it was replaced by a calm blue screen filled with icons. A little section on top showed a small sun. ‘Weather’, it said. Astra glanced at the sky. Yep, sunshine. This seemed a little redundant. There was also three numbers to the side, underneath which were two more words and another number. She had no idea what that meant. The rightmost number in the trio incremented upwards by one as she watched. Huh.

Several of the words and icons remained incomprehensible, even with her new ‘gift’. Experimentally, she poked the cross shaped button and the one icon that was highlighted became unhighlighted while another one, in the same direction that she had pushed, lit up instead. She tried it a few more times and smiled at one mystery solved; it appeared to select a desired icon.

One of the icons was labeled ‘Map’. She made this icon light up and experimented with the other buttons. The left shoulder button didn’t do anything, but the right one made the entire screen seem to rotate, bringing up even more arcane icons, though the screen was not full this time. Trying again, this time the reverse was true; the right one failed to do anything and the left one rotated the screen to the original set.

Re-selecting maps, she pressed the ‘B’ button, which did nothing. Pressing ‘A’ seemed to do the trick however, as the screen flashed white once more, showing a bigger version of the map logo. It soon faded into a rather confusing image of a big mass of green surrounded by blue, crisscrossed with yellow lines and red and blue dots. More green areas were scattered around the empty blue areas.

She stared at it for a moment. This was… a map? A map of ‘Hoenn’, apparently. Then the green would be land, right? And the blue would be water? What were all these yellow lines and colored dots?

One yellow line was flashing red, in the lower right corner of the main green landmass. The image was too small to really see anything useful. A few presses and one accidental program restart later, and Astra was able to enlarge the area.

‘Route 102’, read a line of text next to the flashing yellow line. The line connected ‘Oldale Town’ to ‘Petalburg City’. Was that where she was? She was heading toward a city, and she knew that there was a vast expanse of water if you traveled from the village in a certain direction. It was her best guess. So, these red and blue dots and dashes were cities? And these yellow lines were roads, then. Connected to Oldale town was Littleroot Town. Littleroot seemed to be in the direction the Professor's’ lab was; so if she estimated the time it took to get to the lab, and compared it to the time it took to get to the city…

Astra stared at the very small area of the map. She zoomed back out. Back in. Back out. That… was very large and she was suddenly feeling very small. How was she supposed to travel to all these places!?

Wait, she only needed to visit the ones that had Gyms, the Elite Four, and the Champion. Which were those? The city she was traveling to had a gym, so she examined it’s icon for a moment, trying to see if it had a clue. It was red… and that was it. She examined the map as a whole again. Seven blue dots, nine red dots. Did that mean red cities had gyms? No, that didn’t add up. Ugh. She might have to visit them all anyway. At least she knew where she was, if not where to go.

One of the buttons under the selector pad seemed to bring her to the starting screen. What else was on here? The ‘Pokemon’ icon brought up a screen with six rows. Five were empty, but one was occupied by a little caricature of Treecko; it appeared to be monitoring his well being. How did it know? Her friend appeared to be fine, in any case. Maybe a bit hungry.

‘Pokedex’’ brought up a grand list of nothing but a big list question marks; the only notable exception was, again, the presence of Treecko in the first slot. Selecting that brought up a few bits of info such as average height or weight, and a small blurb of descriptive text.

There were several others that she didn’t understand. ‘Account, album, calculator, calendar, camera, clock, contacts, dial’... the list went on. Astra’s eye twitched. What even were all these things? Why did the humans have to make such a complicated device!?

Astra warily eyed the unknown icons. Which one should she investigate next? She hovered briefly over ‘Music’, but decided against it. There were more important things to do. Moving onto ‘Clock’, she opened the app-

“Hey!”

Astra jerked forward, stumbling over her robe. Catching her balance, she accidentally flung her pokedex into the air. Panicking, she reached up to catch it, only for it to bounce back and forth between her grasping hands as if she were a particularly lucky yet inept juggler. A moment of lucidity had her psychically hold it in place for a fraction of an instant, allowing her to finally take hold of the flying device. Astra was only able to relax for a moment however, as the sound of laughter rang out. Eyes wide, she turned to see who had startled her so badly.

It was a human child. Brown hair and eyes, wearing a wide brimmed yellow hat. He sported a teal sleeveless shirt with a yellow stripe running across the chest and a pair of brown shorts, on which hung two pokeballs. What was really odd was the massive net resting across his shoulder. Also he was still laughing at her.

“Ahaha! Ahha, ah, sorry, sorry that was just, Pfff.” The human coughed, composing himself. “I didn’t think I’d scare you that bad!” he continued, smiling.

Astra stared at him, silently applying her perception illusion. Hopefully he hadn’t gotten a good look at what little of her face was still exposed. Reality caught up to her as she realized he had seen that ridiculous display. She flushed red, embarrassed beyond compare. This wasn’t how she expected her first encounter to go.

“Ehe, yeah. At least you caught your ‘dex, right?” he said, scratching the back of his head at her lack of response.

“Yes.” She glanced at the device and quietly tucked it into her pack. “It’s undamaged.” He didn’t seem to notice anything wrong, so she felt marginally safer, if still jumpy.

The boy squinted and twisted one of his fingers in his ear. “You talk funny.” He shook his head, then pointed at her dramatically. “Hey! If you have a pokedex, you must be a trainer, right!?”

“I became one just yesterday. Why?”

“Oh! That means you’re super new!” the boy exclaimed. “Well, you should know that should your eyes meet a fellow trainers in the wild, a challenge must be issued! And trainers can’t back down from a challenge!”

Oh, was that how that worked? How odd. Wait, this boy was challenging her to a fight? She stiffened, a sudden tightness strangling her heart. A flash of recent memories rushed by, a Zigzagoon barreling down at her, Poochyena fangs flashing in torchlight-

_Stop. Breathe._ She was a human now. They... they wouldn't do that, right? Her eyes widened at another recollection of combat. No, this was like in the city! A challenge to test each others pokemon! A game for fun!

Astra felt a small grin creep across her face, excitement replacing terror. “What’s your name?”

The boy pointed his thumb back at himself, a smirk matching her own emblazoned across his face. “My name is Rick! I’ll take you on with my bug pokemon!”

[“My name is Astra,” she countered, “future champion. Remember it!”](http://i.imgur.com/AwrzF5K.png)

Simultaneously, the two trainers grasped their pokeballs, sending them flying into the air. Dual electrical screeches cried out into the air as Treecko materialized, already prepared to face down his opponent. Which turned out to be a rather small Wurmple. Astra’s eye twitched, and even though Rick’s face was the epitome of seriousness she could only feel like this was some sort of joke.

“Wurmple! String shot!” Rick declared, taking advantage of Astra’s incredulity to get in the first attack.

“Wurm Wurm!” the bug pokemon squelched, spraying a fine mist over the area. Treecko squacked as thin webbing began to coalesce in the air.

Astra snapped back into focus at Treecko’s distress. Thinking quickly, she came up with a rudimentary strategy: Beat the worm into paste.

“Left, then close in with a pound.” she ordered. “Avoid the webs!”

Treecko darted sideways, dashing through what little space remained between the fine threads that were increasingly littering the air. The Wurmple turned to follow him, but her pokemon was too fast for the bug; and with a small twirl, Treecko’s tail impacted his enemy with a meaty thud, sending it flying to his master’s feet.

Rick scowled as his Wurmple wobbled back to its feet. “Fast, and I didn’t even hear any commands... Wurmple, tackle!”

“Wuuuurm!” it shouted, dashing forwards, head-spike lowered for the charge.

“Meet it head on, dodge and tackle it from the side.” Astra ordered, visualizing the action as she communicated.

“Tree…” Treecko grinned. Dashing forwards, the gecko held himself low to the ground. At the last moment he jerked to the right, causing the Wurmple to stumble as it charged right past him. Reversing his momentum, Treecko latched onto the side of the worm pokemon and threw it to the ground. Damaged and shaken, Wurmple attempted to get up one more time, but an additional tail slam knocked it out of the fight for good.

“Ko!” Treecko crowed, victorious. Astra grinned at him, sending a congratulations over their link.

Rick made a frustrated sound. “Come back, Wurmple!” he commanded, returning the pokemon to it’s ball. Clicking it back to his side, he pulled out his second ball. “Let’s see how well you do against this guy!” he shouted, throwing the ball into the air. Astra tensed as the device released it’s payload resolving into…

Another, slightly bigger Wurmple. Astra squinted at Rick. What was this kids deal?

“Close in and slam it.” She ordered. Treecko once again rushed into the fray, advancing rapidly.

“Wurmple, into the webs! String shot, wide area!” Rick countered.

Wurmple took off into the webs left behind by it’s predecessor, spraying another mist into the air. The webs which had begun to dissolve instead thickened rapidly, growing more and more interwoven. Treecko darted forward, jumping and sliding between, above and below the ever closing strands. Just a bit closer, and he could end this fight-

A sticky string detached from its holdings above and fell into his path. Treecko’s eyes widened as he tried to avoid the sudden obstacle, awkwardly leaping over it. He couldn’t, however, avoid the threads in the path of his descent. Crashing into the sticky white extract, one arm and his tail were grabbed by the webs and stuck in place, refusing to release him no matter how much he struggled.

“That’s it, Wurmple! You’ve got him!” Rick cheered. “Hit him with a poison sting!”

Wurmple crawled down it’s webs, the spikes on it’s tail glowing a sickly purple light.

Astra’s eyes widened at the sight of the encroaching creature. “Treecko, get out of there!” she ordered frantically.

Treecko redoubled its struggle against the sticky webbing. Slowly, tiny holes began to tear through the webbing as the trapped pokemon strained against his restraints. The holes began to give way- and then Wurmple was upon him. With a meaty _thwack_ , the bug stabbed its poisonous tail spiked into Treecko’s sides, the force breaking him out of the weakened strands and sending him sprawling outside the webbed area.

“Treecko, are you okay?” Astra asked. She hoped he didn’t get poisoned. Poison hurt deep, the pain spreading with the foul substance through every vein it could reach. Having experienced it before, Astra could rate it as one of the worst experiences of her life. Her berries could cure it but she couldn’t toss him a jar in the heat of battle.

“Tree…” Treecko grit out, standing back on his feet. He radiated out feelings of intense pain, but it wasn’t spreading. So he was hurt, but he wasn’t poisoned. Astra sighed in relief, then focused back on the fight. He couldn’t take another hit like that.

Rick grinned as his Wurmple maintained the elaborate webs that now took up a good chunk of the road. “Let’s see your pokemon get through this, quiet girl!” he taunted.

Astra grimaced at the thick wall of string. There was no way Treecko could dodge through that. If he were bigger he could simply overpower it, but as it was… wait. Astra examined the hazardous strands one more time, a plan hatching in her mind.

Treecko smirked as it received new instructions. Dashing forward, it began weaving through the outer webs, dancing between the sparser threads.

“Tree tree!” he called, taunting the worm. Wurmple chittered angrily at the flagrant display.

“What, this again?” Rick scoffed. “Wurmple, string shot, cover the entire road!”

“Wurm!” it said, spraying ever more string across the road. The bug pokemon advanced further and further, creeping its territory onwards. Soon enough, webbing began to criss-cross everywhere, obscuring the road and even Astra from view.

Rick observed the progress with satisfaction, but frowned as something occurred to him. “Wurmple, stop!” he ordered, examining the battlefield now that the obscuring silken mist was gone. “Wait,” he realized, “Where did that thing go?”

Astra grinned.

Rick’s eyes widened as he heard a triumphant cry from above. Jerking his head up, he spotted Treecko, coiled like a spring on a branch far above. To his dawning horror, he realized his Wurmples advance had coated the ground in webs at the cost of leaving the air completely exposed.

“Treecko, slam!” Astra commanded. Treecko shot off the branch with a fierce cry, accelerating to a great speed toward the confused Wurmple below.

“Wurmple,” Rick cried, ”Watch out!” But even as Wurmple turned to look, it was too late.

Treecko spun in the air and slammed his tail down, delivering a gravity assisted impact to the unprepared bug. Wurmple impacted the ground violently, briefly crying out in pain before jerkily curling up, the one massive blow knocking it out cold. Treecko cried out in victory over his enemies unconscious body, injured but triumphant.

Astra had won.

Treecko, not seeing any new opponents appearing, hopped off his unconscious enemy and scurried over to Astra. Darting up her robes, he snuggled himself into her arms again. She pet him on the head, muttering praise with a smile.

“Ugh!” Rick grumbled, recalling his pokemon. “Down and out. Man, you’re good!”

“I never thought Wurmples could could be so formidable. For my first challenge, it was really interesting!” she returned. “I suppose that means I win.”

“Yeah, yeah. Man, I didn’t even hear you tell your pokemon to do anything!” he complained absently, searching his pockets. Pulling out his own pokedex, Rick and Astra stared at each other for a couple seconds before Rick snapped his fingers, appearing to realize something.

“Oh yeah! You said you became a trainer yesterday, right? Did you visit the professor in Littleroot? It would explain the Treecko.” he muttered to himself, then continued normally, “If you win a trainer battle you also win some money off the loser. Even Gym Leaders do it! Pretty cool, right? I guess the Prof forgot to mention it.”

Astra blinked. What was ‘money’? More things she didn’t know! Ugh. She had a strong desire to hold the boy in place and interrogate him for all he knew. “I didn’t know about that. How does it work?”

“Oh, sure! Here, get out your pokedex, I can walk you through it.”

It turned out that one of the ‘apps’- a shorthand term for the icons- handled this aspect. Rick helpfully walked Astra through setting up a ‘macro’ that would allow her to get the matter over in one button press in the future. Apparently her registration also gave her a ‘Trainter’s account’ at a ‘Bank’..

“Every trainer gets one,” Rick explained, “and you get like two hundred every other week if you have less than five hundred. If you have less than two hundred, your opponents get paid a tiny bit by the government instead.”

Astra nodded, starting to puzzle out the strange terms. ‘Pay for food’? Money must be some sort of barter tool. She had been given five hundred when she received her trainer licence, and had won 64 from Rick according to the numbers on the screen. How useful was that?

“64?” she questioned, testing his reaction. “That’s… a number.”

Rick grimaced. “I know it’s not a lot. I’m a beginner too, you know! It only pays out like, a fraction of what you have.” He turned away slightly at saying this, scowling at the ground.

“Ah, no, it’s fine!” Astra backpedaled. 64 wasn’t very much, apparently. “I wasn’t expecting any of this at all, so it’s nice to know. Thank you, you’ve been a big help!”

He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. “It’s no problem, really. Anyhow,” he said, returning his device to his pocket, “I should get going. You’re heading to Petalburg right? Shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes from here.”

Astra nodded. “It was a fun match. I hope you have a nice day!”

“Same!” he said, walking the way she had come. He flashed a smile backwards as we went on his way. “Maybe someday we’ll fight again, ‘Future Champion’! Good luck!”

“Thank you!” She waved him farewell as he continued down the road. Returning her attention to Treecko, the little gecko pokemon seemed to be sleeping- wait, no, he was just relaxing.

She poked him in the snout, to which he opened his eyes and glowered at her. Smirking, she fetched a few dried berries from her pack and offered them to her companion; hopefully their vitality restoring properties would aid in the recovery of his injuries. Idly, she ate one herself as Treecko nibbled down, pleased noises filling the silence. Dry, but tasty as ever.

After he finished his snack, she recalled him to his pokeball and returned to her investigation of the pokedex. Maybe one of these apps would tell her what a ‘minute’ was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like First Person Exposition and combaaaaat!
> 
> No but really I hope this chapter is recieved well, especially the battle. If I can't do combat right in a pokemon fic...
> 
> Anyway, art is as usual by Dexexe1234, who found a spare moment.
> 
> Oh! Also, today happens to be both mine and Dexexe1234 's birthday! HUZZAH!
> 
> Please let me know what you think.


	12. Service

A little investigation into the clock app revealed that a minute was 1/60th of an ‘hour’, which itself was 1/24th of a full day. A minute could be further subdivided into 60 ‘seconds’, which themselves could subdivide by 60 into something unlabeled. On top of the sheer bizarre concept of dividing time into concrete sections, Astra found the divisions themselves odd and unintuitive. Why those numbers? 24 into 60 into 60… why not tens, or hundreds? The hours even seemed to double back on themselves halfway through the day and night. Two sets of 12 hours??? What did AM or PM even _mean_!?  
   
Nevertheless, a ‘stopwatch’ feature measured out the seconds and minutes and Astra felt she had a somewhat decent feel for the units by the fourteenth minute, which was when the city came into view.  
   
The sight was as breathtaking as the last. Structures taller than the trees littered the landscape, perfectly square and sparkling in the midday sun. The trail she was on went directly into the city’s center, gathering offshoots and buildings as it went. Most prominent was the grand building in the center of town with its large ‘GYM’ sign. Astra grinned at the sight. Her first goal was within reach!  
   
Immediately ahead on the trail were two brightly colored structures labeled ‘PokeCenter’ and ‘PokeMart’ with red and blue tops respectively; the former much bigger than the latter. Astra peered at them from afar. The professor had said something about Pokemon Centers, hadn’t he? Special ‘computers’ which could hold excess pokemon. That sounded important, and it wasn’t like the Gym was going to go anywhere. Astra started down the road, eager to investigate.  
   
A flare of fear arose as she spotted another human walking towards her. Would she fight again? Would she be discovered? An undercurrent of tension ran through Astra as the person came close and their eyes met… The human’s eyes flickered over her outfit, eyebrow raised. They smiled, waved, and walked right past her; completely oblivious to the hammering of her heart.  
   
Oh. Astra looked back as the human left. That was… anticlimactic. The human seemed to have a few pokeballs held on their waist, so they must have been a trainer. Why did they not challenge her? Did this ‘eye contact’ rule not apply near the city? Perhaps the human didn’t want to fight either, or Rick was mistaken about the rule. A few more non-encounters on the road made her discard theory two. At the most, they would give her an odd look or give out a passing greeting like ‘hey’, which she would return in kind. Astra found herself relaxing as a pattern formed.  
   
The two brightly capped buildings came up quickly; a few groups of humans seemed to be lingering around the area, though none of them paid Astra any mind as she approached the Pokecenter. The entryway seemed to be blocked off by a pane of glass. Astra stepped up to it uneasily. There didn’t appear to be a handle, so how-  
   
She nearly jumped out of her skin when the door slid open of it’s own accord with a soft _ding_ , a blast of cool air accompanying it. Stalling a moment to calm herself, Astra passed through the now vacant barrier, giving a wonderous glance to the crevice the door slid into as she passed. How did that work, how did it know to open, and other such questions flitted into and out of her thoughts. The interior itself distracted her from such ponderings.  
   
The pokecenter was rich in bright colors, yellow and red predominant; the floor held a mosaic of a pokeball in the tiles, and various tables and soft looking stools were scattered around, grouped in corners. There appeared to be a shelf of books (Had she known that word before?) to the left, near some stairs that also appeared to move on their own. On the right was a line of odd machines, similar to what Professor Birch had spent some time on during her visit. Were these the special devices he spoke of? A few humans were inside, doing whatever it was they were here for.  
   
The most prominent feature was the large desk in the back. A pink haired woman was sitting behind it, focused on the same rectangle that was present in all the other machines. One other girl was waiting anxiously nearby, eyes on the large machine behind the pinkette.  
   
Well, Astra thought, time to find out what’s going on here. Steeling her nerves, she strode up to the counter. The brunette to the side didn’t pay her any attention, but the pink haired woman behind the desk looked up from her task at her approach, the faint tapping sound ceasing with it.  
   
“Hello,” she began, smiling warmly, “and welcome to the Petalburg East Pokemon Center. We restore tired or injured pokemon to full health, free of charge. I am Nurse Joy, would you like to rest your pokemon?”  
   
Astra blinked. Well, that was easy. She didn’t even have to do anything. “Do you explain that to everyone who comes here?”  
   
“It’s standard policy,” Joy responded, her tone adopting a hint of wry exasperation.  
   
“I see.” Well, Treecko did just go through a tough battle, and he was injured pretty severely. The Pokedex claimed he had healed a bit on his own, but not quite up to full strength. Maybe it was worth testing their proclaimed service. “My treecko was just in a battle and he’s still hurt. Can you help him?”  
   
“Of course!” She said, regular smile returning in full force. “Please place your pokeballs in this tray.” Reaching out of sight for a moment, she set down a plastic tray with six divots on the counter. Hesitantly, Astra set Treecko’s ball into a hole. Nurse joy took the plastic tray and turned to the large machine to Astra’s left and opened a drawer on the side, sliding the tray inside. Closing the drawer, she pressed a few buttons on the machine's interface and a short, artificial sounding musical ditty rang out. Sitting back down, she smiled at Astra.  
   
“The process will take a short time; for this request perhaps around ten minutes. Please take a number; I will call for you when it is complete.” she said, indicating a small ticket vendor on the desk. “Feel free to use any available computer. Alternatively, a selection of books may be found to your left.”  
   
“Thank you.” Astra said, pausing to take the- apparently 29th- slip of paper from the roll. Glancing to her right, she spotted the row of strange machines once again. Were these the ‘computers’? Curiosity perked, she headed over to investigate.  
   
They were lined up on desks in booths, dividers between them for privacy; or so she assumed. One was occupied by a rather bored kid, but the rest were free. Taking the one furthest from the child, she climbed into the chair. In front of her was a thin square plastic box on a stand encasing a shiny, reflective black surface. On the desk itself was a rectangular board marked by glyphs on numerous smaller cubes and rectangles embedded within it, and an elliptoid divided in one half and two fourths, with the fourths split by a half-wheel.  
   
To the left was a plain looking machine with a transparent half cylinder revealing an empty space inside; a divot similar to the tray Nurse Joy had used on the bottom. To the right was another odd device, it was a board with an empty space embedded into the surface which was the exact shape of her pokedex. A small slot was also next to it.  
   
Astra would have been totally lost were it not for a helpful sign posted on the wall. To access the computer, she would have to place her pokedex inside of the right hand machine, and then her trainer card in the slot. Easy enough. Her pokedex slotted in with a click and the card slid in without incident.  
   
Astra flinched as another small jingle played, the screen flickering to life on it’s own. In an instant, it brightened to a blinding white, an unfamiliar logo taking up the center. After a moment, it transformed into a serene picture of rolling hills and a cloudy blue sky. Unfamiliar apps were lined neatly on the upper left of the screen, a lonely Trash icon on the bottom right.  
   
Astra pondered the screen. It seemed to be a much larger pokedex on first glance. In fact… yes, it seemed that all the apps that were on her pokedex were here as well.  Was it taking what was on the pokedex and copying it here? There were a couple unfamiliar ones as well, ‘VulpixNet’ and ‘Pokexchange’ among them.  
   
How did she…? Baffled, Astra examined the tools on front of the computer again. The glyph board was incomprehensible, but she recognized most of the symbols as being letters and numbers, though one seemed to be blank? Why was it so long? She poked a glyph with an arrow on it, but nothing on screen seemed to change.  
   
Maybe it was the odd elliptoid which held the key. As soon as she touched it, she spotted movement; A small white arrow had appeared from within a cloud. Moving the elliptoid further caused it to mimic her movements. Progress! Moving the arrow over the Pokexchange app, she pondered how to go further.  
   
They glyph board didn’t seem to have any immediate answers, but the elliptoid itself seemed to have some give on the divided areas. Perhaps it was a button as well? It was rather awkwardly shaped for her hands, so she lightly tapped the left section psychically. It gave a satisfying click, and the app icon was highlighted.  
   
Not quite there yet, she mused. She pushed in the right half. A small menu popped up next to the arrow, listing various terms. Most of these she did not understand, but the top one, ‘open’, seemed to fit what she was searching for. Left to select, right to open a menu of action? Hm.  
   
Hitting open created a new square of white, and another logo flashed by. It opened to feature a large section that imitated a forest labeled ‘Box 1’, and a large grey rectangle to the left labeled ‘Pkmn Data’. A square in the top middle of the grey bar was filled with an empty grid of squares colored in two shades of blue. Above the Box 1 label were two other buttons labelled ‘Party Pokemon’ and ‘Close Application’.  
   
Astra examined the screen. Was this where her pokemon would go if she captured more than six? Since she hadn’t captured any pokemon, it was empty. Hm. Moving the arrow over the Party Pokemon box, she pressed the left button again. A smaller box opened next to the gray bar, displaying six squares on a blue background. Five of them were empty and stacked on the right above a cancel button. The sixth was in the middle left, and showed a miniature Treecko, displaying the same information the Pokedex had.  
   
Right clicking on Treecko caused a new menu to appear, offering to deposit or exchange him. Astra hit deposit, causing the machine to the left to open the barrier restricting access to the hollow compartment within. A word box popped up, saying ‘Please insert your Pokeball’. Treecko was still being healed, so it seemed this was as far as she would get.  
   
“29! Calling number 29!”  
   
Astra blinked and checked her ticket. Time to go, then. It was just as well, this was starting to get a bit overwhelming. Closing the application, she took her trainer card and pokedex out of the slots, which caused a new box to appear, indicating that she would be ‘logged off’ if the items were not returned. Was that bad? The short countdown completed and… the icons disappeared, leaving only the background and another text box, which asked for a pokedex and trainer card to be inserted into the right device.  
   
Well, it didn’t seem to be obviously wrong at least. Astra got off her chair, blinking. Scowling, she rubbed her eyes; she hadn’t noticed it during her experimentation, but the glare from the screen was awfully bright. Shaking her head, she returned to the desk, where Nurse Joy waited. The other girl seemed to have left.  
   
“I was 29.” she said, producing said ticket.  
   
Nurse Joy took her ticket with another smile, and placed the tray with her pokeball on it atop the counter. “Thank you for waiting. We’ve restored your Pokemon to full health. We hope to see you again!”  
   
Astra narrowed her eyes as she retrieved her pokeball. “Wait, you want my pokemon to get injured? That’s kinda mean.”  
   
The nurses smile gained an amused curl at Astra’s remark. “Still policy. You learn to take the bright side of it.”  
   
“Bright side?”  
   
She shrugged. “If you’re able to stand here and chat, that means you’re not at the morgue.”  
   
“What’s a morgue?”  
   
“Ah,” Nurse Joy scratched the back of her head, letting out an awkward laugh. “It’s… nothing you need to worry about. In any case, I hope you have a nice day!”  
   
Her face scrunched at the obvious deflection. She debated pressing, but she had things to do. “Well, okay then. Have a nice day!“ she said, dropping the topic. A blast of warm wind hit Astra in the face as she returned outside. Not even ten seconds and she already missed the cool air.  
   
Turning on her Pokedex, she double checked Treecko’s condition. The service worked as was promised; Treecko was now in perfect health, though she should probably stop for lunch soon. But not right now, there was still the Pokemart to check out. There wasn’t anybody hanging around the blue roofed building, which was only a short distance down the road. The same type of automatic door was present here as well, and slid open upon her approach.  
   
The inside of this building was exceptionally different. Several bins and shelves of mysterious items lined the interior, and one wall even had multiple items behind transparent doors. Strangely, the place was completely deserted.  
   
Walking a bit further inside, Astra blinked as a large counter came into view. A lone yellow haired girl sat behind it, head nestled in her arms and snoring peacefully. Um. Astra briefly scanned the store again. Was she… supposed to be sleeping? That didn’t seem right. Well, at least it gave her a chance to look around without arousing suspicion. Silently, Astra moved through the aisles, looking at what was available.  
   
Most of it seemed to be different varieties of food.  By and large the bags of pellets seemed to take up the majority of the section, with canned ‘wet food’ taking second place. Was this what she would have been fed, if she had been caught? She wondered what they tasted like.  
   
Astra took a baffled glance between the variety of brands. Why did they have so many types of the exact same thing? Were they different somehow? It was probably safe to bet that the numbers next to them was the cost, but why was it so disparate between them? One bag was triple the cost of the next highest! Still, the cheapest bag ran for 100 and if she had 6 extra mouths to feed it would last at least a week with proper rationing.  
   
So called specialty foods and treats had a row to themselves. Oddly warm ‘Fire Flakes’, jars of ‘Ghost Jelly’, there was even a bag of scrap metal shaped into bones hidden in a corner. A few of these also seemed to come with redundant choices. Astra shook her head; surely there was some sort of explanation for all of it. In any case, she still had a pack full of berries and fish so she didn’t need any of this yet.  
   
The right wall of the store seemed to cater to grooming. Odd bottles, combs, leashes… Astra eyed a container of ‘shampoo’, but balked at the price tag. She frowned, feeling her own thick green strands. The unfamiliar pokemon’s hair on the bottle looked so nice… but no, it would eat up nearly all of her money. She put the shampoo back, inexplicably sad.  
   
The back wall of the store was much more interesting. This is where, it seemed, the competitive trainers items were kept. Empty pokeballs took up a solid third of the wall. Further down, there were a selection of small items called ‘Simulants’. Reading the label on an ‘X Attack’, apparently these were capsules that, when eaten by a pokemon, would boost some attribute of theirs for a short time. In this case, the pokemon would be physically stronger than usual for the duration of a batte. Useful, but Astra grimaced at the worryingly large ‘potential side effects’ list on the side. She didn’t ever want to know what ‘Excessive intestinal distress’ meant.  
   
The rest of the wall was taken up by more utilitarian items, such as rope, water bottles, flash lights, sleeping bags, pokemon repellant, and even more bottles which supposedly acted as cures for various ailments and injuries. She inspected a ‘Potion’, which was a can that could spray some sort of healing liquid onto wounds.  
   
Astra briefly marveled at the easy access these people had to such items. Poison cures and healing all in one little bottle. No more bandages with ground up moss you had to trek four hours to find or week long fevers from an infected cut or anything. She glared down at the little container in her hand resentfully. It was so unfair.  
   
There appeared to be more advanced types of pokeballs and potions behind some glass doors, but apparently she needed more ‘badges’ to access them. Astra decided to purchase a pokeball, a potion and a large metallic water bottle. And with that she was out of money. Or, she would be after she paid.  
   
The girl at the counter was still asleep. Astra glanced around the store again, but they were the only ones here. She sighed; it seemed that she would need to wake her up. Simple enough she supposed, a sharp ping would do just the-  
   
The girl _shrieked_ ; snapping her eyes open and launching herself out of her chair. Her rapid ascent met an abrupt end as her head met the bottom of a shelf with a loud _thump_. “Mother _fu-_ ” The girl screamed, before tripping over the chair and collapsing behind the desk. A low groan was all the indication that she was still conscious.  
   
Astra watched with a horrified awe. That wasn’t- but why- how did that happen!? All a ping was supposed to do was mentally tap them on the shoulder- _they weren’t psychic_. She felt like tearing her hair out, _how did she forget that!?_ Setting her things down, she leaned down to peer through the glass and saw the girl sprawled on the floor, moaning with an arm over her face.  
   
“Are you okay?” she asked.  
   
“Bwuh?” the girl lifted her arm to stare at her, squinting through the harsh lighting. “Ugh. Sorry about that. I- I’m fine. Just, give me a minute.” She waved her other arm erratically before finally catching the edge of the counter. The blond pulled herself to her feet with a pained grunt, rubbing her head with her free hand.  
   
Astra almost apologized, but held back at the last moment. She couldn’t take credit for a psychic attack, or else they would figure her out! It would be best to feign ignorance. “That looked painful.” she said, and at least she could be honest about this. “Do you need any help?”  
   
The blond grimaced. “No, no, I’m good. I just… it felt like someone jabbed a needle in my head. I don’t...” She blinked, then stared at Astra suspiciously. “Was that you? Did you do something weird?”  
   
“N- no. I was just coming over here but then you started screaming and fell over.”  
   
She held the stare for a few moments more, then rolled her eyes and sighed. “Whatever you say, mummy girl. Least it wasn’t my boss.” The blond glanced at the counter and blinked at the items scattered on it. “Oh, right. Did you need me to ring these up?”  
   
Momentarily hesitating at the unfamiliar terminology, Astra nodded in reply. WIth expertise born of working at a specialty shop for far, far too long, the cashier scanned all of her items in a matter of seconds. Putting all three in a plastic bag, she sat them back on the counter.  
   
“That’ll be 550.” she said, extending a cord from the machine she sat in front of. She held it out to Astra, who looked at it with great confusion. What was she supposed to do with this? It looked kinda familiar but-  
   
“Kid? You gonna pay or not?”  
   
“Um.” Astra said, floundering. “How…?”  
   
“Are you serious?” The blond sighed. “You put it in your pokedex.”  
   
Oh! That’s where she had seen it, it mirrored the opening at the top. It popped into the slot with a satisfying click, and the payment went through immediately.  
   
“Thank you for shopping at Pokemart, please come again soon,” the cashier droned out, handing the bag to her.  
   
“Thank you.” Astra said. Still, the difference between here and with Rick was bothering her. “On the road I didn’t have to use that wire. Why is it different here?”  
   
“I dunno,” She shrugged. “Some security crap, I think. Why are you wearing a bedsheet?” she shot back.  
   
“Eh?” Astra looked down at her black robe. She felt ‘I’m secretly a pokemon in disguise.’ wouldn’t go down very well. Why did she need the robe? Think, think... “Um. I… don’t do well in sunlight?”  
   
“Really?” The cashier suddenly leaned over the counter, staring at Astra’s face intently. After a moment, a faint spark of recognition lit up in her eyes. “Ah shit, do you have, what was it called, albinism?”  
   
Astra didn’t know what that was. Was this a human affliction? “M-maybe?” she hazarded. It sounded like a convenient enough excuse.  
   
The cashiers expression brightened. “Oh, that’s so cool! You have the pale skin and the red eyes and everything! The hair kinda throws it off a bit, but man! You’re like a- a-” she snapped her fingers a couple times before pointing at her in revelation, “A shiny person! Sucks about the sun thing though.” Rummaging around in a pocket, she pulled out a small device of her own. “Hey, can I take a picture with you on my phone?”  
   
Astra vaguely felt like she should be offended, but this was drowned out by the confusion. ‘Shiny’ person? Was everyone back home an ‘albino’? They all had pale skin and red eyes after all. As for the picture, she didn’t see any special reason to decline. Just to be safe, she reinforced the mental pattern holding her illusion together.  
   
The blond held a radiant smile at her assent. Reaching across the counter, she put on arm around Astra’s shoulder and held the phone away from them both. Astra shifted uncomfortably at the sudden contact. This was a bit too close…  “Smile for the camera~” she said, holding up two fingers. An odd click later, and the deed was done. “Looks good!” she said, flipping the phone around.  
   
Astra contemplated the image on the small screen. From this perspective she could see that her skin was indeed several shades paler than the humans; appearing almost snow white in comparison to her more pinkish hue. Apart from that, her disguise was working well; there wasn’t any extreme differences between them and there was no hint of distortion. The cashiers brilliant smile was sharply contrasted with her awkward, barely visible one. Astra agreed with the blond; it was a nice image.  
   
That said, this situation was getting a little weird. It was time to leave. “Yeah. Anyway, I should be going.” Astra said as the girl fiddled with her phone. “Have a nice day!” she finished, heading toward the exit.  
   
“Mm. Good luck out there, albino mummy girl!” She replied, waving as Astra left the store.  
   
The trainer stepped back into the bright sunlight, three items richer and financially depleted. She sighed; It seemed that around every corner there was ten more new and confusing things. She was glad for it, but it was just a bit too much at once. Maybe it was time for that lunch break? Peering into the sky, she noted that the sun had indeed reached it’s peak. She’d been in that store for longer than she thought.  
   
A sudden growl from her stomach settled the matter. Lunch first. And after that…  
   
She stared down the winding road, where the Gym laid, waiting. With a anticipatory smirk, Astra hurried down the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's 12 done.
> 
> Man, i've been pounding these out at a relatively blistering pace.
> 
> I get the horrible feeling that this one will be boring. *panic* *panic* *posts*


	13. Note

Finding a place to sit down for a while was a lot harder than Astra initially thought it was going to be. Skirting next to the walls of the buildings, she edged along the sidewalk, avoiding the modest stream of people heading to and fro. She passed by an elderly couple and shifted uncomfortably as their heads turned to follow. Did they really have to stare like that? She gazed at the sparse canopy above and sighed.  
   
Just like last time, the number of humans had spiked dramatically the closer she got to the center. As they did so, she began to notice a fair number of them staring at her. Was a full black cloak really so odd? Or maybe it was this ‘albino’ thing. A combination of both? It didn’t matter, the end result was a street full of nosy people and some horrible paranoia. If any of them saw through the facade...  
   
She only wanted a nice shady place to sit for a while, just to let Treecko out and eat a jar of berries. There were several buildings that hosted tables outside them, but she would have to extend the illusion across her mouth as well. A bit of fatigue was already making itself known, just for keeping her eyes properly proportioned for all this time, not to even mention the nose. Also the part where she would have to scoop the foodstuff out with her telekinesis. That would likely give her away outright.  
   
Astra paused to take in her surroundings. Signs proclaiming various services were on near every building. The one she stood in front of was named ‘Imagi-Knit’. A large quantity of cloth items were visible through the window. She gazed inside speculatively. If she could get something that fit in better… but not now.  
   
The shop itself did look familiar. Did she see it the last time she was here? She had been traveling across the rooftops at this point; gazing across the street, she tried to imagine seeing it from on high. Yes, yes it was coming together, the position of the trees, the colors of the signs. She knew where she was!  
   
So if she traveled sideways a little bit, there should be- there! The continual stretch of shops and signs had finally broken in favor of a large swath of trees and dirt. The ‘Petalburg City Park’ was a welcome sight. Astra sighed in relief as she walked down the winding trail. The city outside had been really noisy, this relative quiet was warmly welcomed.  
   
The park was mostly empty, one one or two people in scattered areas. A few children gathered among odd contraptions in a sand pit while a woman watched nearby, and a boy was playing fetch with an unfamiliar pokemon. Astra watched it chase after a colorful ball. What was that? A memory flickered, and she reached back for her pokedex. Turning it on, she pointed it at the creature. The device made a soft chime as it pulled up an entry for a pokemon called Skitty. Apparently they liked to chase things, such as their own tail. She stifled a giggle as the Skitty abruptly started to spin around, only to wobble fall over a moment later. Cute~  
   
She found a table away from what little activity there was, the mental strain dissipating as her illusion faded away. With it’s usual electronic whine, she released Treecko from his confines. The grass pokemon let out a trill as he stretched out, peering at his surroundings curiously.  
   
Setting her pack down, Astra shuffled through it before retrieving a small container of fresh oran berries. Flicking the top open, she withdrew a blue fruit and ate it. Ah, an excellent mix of every flavor there was; sweet, sour, spicy… delicious. As she ate another one, she remembered that treat that had been dumped on her head. She wanted to try ice cream again, too! Her tasty daydream was interrupted by a hungry gecko attempting to climb up her arm.  
   
“Ah! Treecko, stop that.” she said, plucking the pokemon off. Treecko crossed his arms and let out a low grumble as he was set back on the table.  
   
Grinning, Astra levitated a berry out of the jar and twirled it around her free hand. “You want one of these, right?” she taunted, hovering it over her palm.  
   
“Tree…” Treecko crouched down, focusing on the fruit in her hand intently.  
   
The tension rose...!  
   
“There!” Astra flicked her hand, launching the berry at high speed!.  
   
Treecko bolted to the left, easily intercepting and catching the berry in his mouth. “Ko!”  
   
“There!” Astra launched another in the other direction, gleefully watching him dart across the table to catch it before it sailed into the grass. Grabbing another for herself, she began an all out berry assault, flicking oran side to side and into the air as Treecko dashed to and fro to catch them all. Down to the last berry, Astra merely held it in her outstretched hand. “Here!”  
   
Treecko lept to the oran in a flash, and ate it straight from her palm. “Tree!” Smiling, Astra put the empty jar away and stroked him across the back. Making a soft noise, Treecko sprawled out on her lap. They spent a while like this, simply enjoying the wind and warmth, when the faint sound of music began to play.  
   
Astra perked up. She remembered this! Was that old man here again? Getting off her bench and reapplying her illusion- an annoyed Treecko hopping onto her head- she walked around a bend in the path.  
   
There he was, that old man from what seemed to be so long ago. Though now dressed in blue and brown, he was sitting on that same bench with that odd object resting under his chin, running that stick across the width. He was not playing the same song, not at all. What he was playing now raised every hair on her coat. The pace had increased drastically, notes changing from one to the next with a frantic fervor. Same as last, he was alone, and nobody had stopped to listen, though many more were looking his way as they passed.  
   
Astra approached the recessed bench, but the man did not notice; his eyes were closed and for all intents was dead to the world around him. This music… it was wonderful! Astra couldn’t believe a sound this exhilarating could exist. She found herself tapping her foot to the rhythm, moving side to side in tune with the song. It wasn’t a proper dance; as a Ralts her legs were constrained by her coat and even moreso by the cloak, but she could still express this beating heart of hers nevertheless.  Treecko bobbed his head as well, caught in the flow same as her.  
   
Closing her eyes, Astra lost herself to the music. Winding up and down, but never losing that speed, that exuberant energy… she wanted to run. She wanted to fly! To feel the world pass by, and race the setting sun till dawn.  
   
The ending came as a complete surprise, the intense melody coming to a jarring halt with a single, screeching noise.  Astra snapped out of her reverie, disorientated. What? Why did it stop? The musician had set aside the mysterious object and was rubbing his hand. His brow was furrowed, mouth twisted in an odd expression. She didn’t think he had noticed her yet.  
   
“Aw, why’d you stop?” she whined, much to the man's surprise. His head swiveled toward her, eyes wide in astonishment. “That was really good!”  
   
The old man blinked. “Oh, thank you. You were listening?”  
   
“Yeah! I heard you from the park. I’ve never heard anything like it!”  
   
“I see. It’s not my usual work, to be sure,” he said, picking up the instrument, “It was a bit of an experiment- oh, pardon my manners. My name is Trevor, I used to work in an orchestra. Who might you be?” He smiled at her, resting the- violin, was it?- on the ground.  
   
“My name is Astra,” she said, “I’m a trainer here to challenge the gym!”  
   
His expression seemed to dim a bit at her words. “Are you? Oh, of course you are; I should have guessed with that little fellow on your head there.”  
   
“Tree.” Now that the show was over, Treecko had lept to the ground and laid back against a tree.  
   
Astra hesitated. There was something in his tone, did he disapprove? Why? “Is that… okay?” she asked.  
   
“No, no, it’s fine.” Trevor waved her off. “It’s all you kids seem to do nowadays, is all. Pokemon this, pokemon that… it’s been like this ever since they let you kids tame pokemon by yourselves. Did you know that you used to have to get special training to even attempt that? Now it’s so simple a kid can do it… how the world changes in just a few decades.” He swept a hand through his greying hair, chuckling to himself. “Hah, nevermind that. You came over to listen to music, yes?”  
   
She grinned at him brilliantly. “I’d love to!” He still looked bothered about something. But if he was offering to play again, she wouldn’t miss the chance! Who knew when she could hear any of this again?  
   
“Hah! What refreshing enthusiasm.” Picking up his violin, he began to play once more. “This piece is called ‘Dirge for the Unknown Soldier’. Rather simple, but I’m afraid more complex works are beyond me these days.”  
   
Astra sat and listened.. This song was a lot slower than the last one, the notes seeming to echo even in the crowded street. “It seems… sad.”  
   
“As it should be. It was written a long time ago by a talented scholar who lived in the desert. He based it on a local legend. Supposedly it was about an ancient warrior who was denied recognition for a great deed and left to rot in obscurity.”  
   
That sounded awful. For someone to be forgotten in such a way… it wasn’t right. Something he said earlier bothered her a bit, though. “‘More complex works’”? She echoed, “That first one sounded pretty complex.”  
   
Trevor grimaced and faltered in his playing for a moment. “Ah, well to an untrained ear I suppose you wouldn’t have heard any irregularities. Did you notice how I ended the piece?”  
   
Astra nodded. “Yeah, it was just a big screech. Why?”  
   
“Hm.” Much to her disappointment, he halted his song and laid the instrument down. He help out a hand. “Look at my hand. What do you see?”  
   
Astra looked. It was her first time seeing a human’s hand up close like this. It had four long, spindly fingers instead of the wide pad on her own. Each one was a little calloused and had what seemed to be a groove etched in the tips. The back of the hand itself had veins visibly criss crossing the entire back, bones visible against the flesh. The entirety of it was dull in color, wrinkly and trembling quite badly.  
   
“Um.” Astra said, uncertain. It was a wholly alien appendage, so she had no idea what was ‘wrong’ with it. His constant movement was making it a little hard to examine as well. “Can you hold it still? I can’t-”  
   
He stared at her, blank faced. “The problem is that I’m trying.”  
   
Astra looked up from his trembling digits, blinking.  “You can’t… control your hands?”  
   
“It’s a disease people get around my age,” He sighed. “Some sort of problem with my head. It means I have issues moving, and, well. Other things, eventually.” He flexed his hand, a distant look in his eyes. “I said I was in the orchestra, right? If it wasn’t for this, I could have played there for the rest of my golden years. But now my control is slipping, and I keep making these ameture mistakes…  they had to let me go. Sixty years I’ve played this instrument. Now in just a few more I’ll barely be able to hold it.”  
   
“That- that’s so awful! Can’t you cure it?” These humans had all sorts of miracles, surely there was something he could do?  
   
He smiled at her. “I’m afraid not. I’ve had my fair share of reports saying some sort of breakthrough in this or that, but it all turns into a whole mess of nothing in the end. I’ll be stuck with this for the rest of my days, I think.”  
   
So there were things that even humans couldn’t do? That… that wasn’t fair. “But…” she trailed off. What could she even say to that? “I’m sorry.” she mumbled.  
   
“It’s nothing to be sorry for. Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn, and it’s not all bad, I suppose.” Trevor continued, leaning back. “I’ve gotten to spend more time with my kids, visit places I always wanted to go. Even got to tour the old school where I learned to play.”  
   
Astra gladly latched onto the subject change. What was ‘school’? “You learned to play at… school?”  
   
He hummed an affirmative. “Yes. It was a pretty prestigious academy. I learned a lot from there and met some amazing people, though I’ve heard they have had some issues with class sizes recently.”  
   
Astra frowned. What was a class and what was the significance of its size? ”Why is that?”  
   
Trevor had started to fiddle with the knobs at the top of the violin. “It’s just that not many people are interested in learning to play nowadays.” He plucked a string and listened intently.  
   
Astra processed this for a moment, then her jaw dropped. “What? Nobody wants to learn that!?” Back home, they’d be fighting tooth and nail to wield a violin! “How- why- Who wouldn’t want to learn how to do that!?”  
   
“Well, I suppose they just had different priorities.” He gave her a sardonic glance. “Like training pokemon.”  
   
Astra flushed and looked away. That wasn’t fair, she didn’t even know violins had existed until yesterday! Not to mention her task of becoming the champion. Maybe in a better world, but… “I never had the choice.” She mumbled.  
   
“Oh? Were there no teachers where you are from?”  
   
“Something like that.”  
   
“I see…”  He looked at her pensively. “If you had had the opportunity, would you have done so?”  
   
If she didn’t have to disguise herself? If she didn’t have to fight for her people's protection? “Training is really important to me right now, but I… I think I would have liked to.” she admitted. “It’s a nice dream.”  
   
“Would you like to try?”  
   
Astra blinked uncomprehendingly. “Eh? What do you mean?”  
   
Trevor smiled. “Well, I seem to have a violin right here. I also happen to be quite proficient at using it. Do you want me to teach you?”  
   
“Really!?” Astra asked, eyes wide. “You’d do that?”  
   
“If you are willing, I can think of no better way to spend my time.”  
   
Astra was on her feet in an instant, letting out a happy squeak as she jumped in excitement. “I’d love to!” This was amazing! She could learn to play, and give everyone back home a performance, and- and… Astras face fell.  
   
“Hm?” Trevor gave her a concerned look as her demeanor turned downcast. “Is there something wrong? You seemed excited.”  
   
“I don’t think I have time for it.” Astra looked into the distance, the giant GYM sign looming in the distance. “I need to go challenge all of the gym leaders as fast as I can. It’s really important, and why I came here in the first place.”  
   
Trevor hummed. He plucked one last string on his instrument and listened as the note thrummed through the crowded street. “Is it so important that you must race off right now?”  
   
“Well, maybe not right this second, but… learning the violin, it would take a long time, wouldn’t it?”  
   
“Oh, certainly!” Trevor set the violin down and folded his hands together. “Learning to use it to such precision that you could play for an orchestra took me years! On the same account, surely travelling all across Hoenn would take you a few months, no matter how much you rush. I don’t think taking five or so hours to just see what it’s like would hurt, would it?”  
   
That map _had_ looked rather large, Astra remembered. Even if she sped with all her might, she wouldn’t be able to even reach another gym if they were discovered in the next few days, let alone the champion. She couldn’t dawdle, of course, but rushing straight from gym to gym would be pointless, wouldn’t it? On the timescale she had to work with... two seasons, maybe three. If the village was discovered before then, then she would have had no chance anyway. She didn’t have too much time but there wasn’t a complete lack of it either. She could spend a bit of it here.  
   
“No.” she looked at the sky contemplatively. “No I guess it wouldn’t, would it?  
   
Travis clapped his hands, grinning gently.“That’s the spirit!” Hefting the instrument, he beckoned her closer. “Well, first let’s go over the terminology, and then how to hold it. This is called the ‘Bow’, and you slide the fibers over the strings to produce the sound…”  
   
Astra listened intently as he listed every component of the violin. It wasn’t the most interesting thing, but she was excited to see what came next. Trevor quickly went over how to hold the violin, and passed it over to Astra.  
   
She gently took the instrument and examined it up close. It was very light, colored like the wood it was made of and had an almost reflective sheen of something covering it. Grabbing the neck with her left hand, she awkwardly held the slightly too large violin in her chin. She positioned her hand around the neck-  
   
“You’re going to need to take your hands out of your sleeves, Astra.” Trevor interjected with a tone of faint humor. “You can’t hold the strings down through that thick fabric.”  
   
Oh. Oh no. Astra hadn’t considered that. She couldn’t pull her hand out, it looked way too different! “Um. Do I really need to?”  
   
“Er,” the musician frowned at his students reluctance. “Yes, you do. Is there an issue?”  
   
Yes there was an issue, her hands were completely different! She didn’t have any fingers, for one thing. “I- it’s just... “ If he saw what she was, she’d be completely screwed. What could she do? Backing out now would be too suspicious. She’d have to craft another illusion from scratch, it was her best shot. Lowering the instrument, she surreptitiously hid her right hand out of sight. Time to stall. “Sorry, I- II get really nervous about taking my cloak off.”  
   
“Even just your hand?”  
   
Focusing on both the conversation and crafting this new illusion was taking more out of her than she expected. Slowly, the fingers started to take shape. She hoped nobody noticed the purple glow beneath the sleeve. Splitting her attention, she quickly pulled together an argument. “I use the cloak to protect myself, due to a condition. If anyone saw underneath, they’d… treat me a lot differently. Even the girl working at the Pokemart started acting strange, and she only saw my face.” Even as the details started to solidify, Astra began to feel the strain steadily increasing. Was she reaching her limit?  
   
Trevor let out a low rumble, understanding dawning in his eyes. “So you are worried that if I saw your hand, I would act similarly?”  
   
“M-maybe.” Putting the finishing touches on the blueprint, Astra was ready to call her new hands complete. The first one formed easily enough, but the second proved to be too difficult. It flickered in and out, malformed and misshapen as she struggled to gather enough energy to form it. This wasn’t going to work, she realized; she had too many illusions running at once, one would have to go. Pausing a moment to rest, she refocused on the conversation. “It’s just… I don’t know. I don’t want it to be a big deal.“  
   
“Now now,” he said, resting his hand upon her shoulder, “Astra, I can promise you that I would never treat you any differently than I already have. We haven’t known each other for long, but I can already tell that you are a lovely young girl with fantastic enthusiasm and a bright, open mind. That won’t change, no matter what condition you have.”  
   
His words held such earnesty that she couldn’t help but smile, even if it was a little sardonic. Would he still say the same things if he knew the full truth?  She hoped he would, but the answer would never come. Rubbing at her face, she surreptitiously pulled her mask a little further up. “Thank you,” she said, dispelling the mirage on her face. The hat and mask would cover it up enough for now. “That means a lot.”  
   
Forming the illusion around her hands, Astra finally pulled her sleeves all the way back. Her new appendages were not much different at all from a regular humans in shape, save perhaps the digits were a bit thin and spindly. However, they both had the same oddity as the rest of her in that they were unnaturally pale, like snow.  
   
Trevor blinked as they came into view. “My word,” he said, “You said this was a condition of yours? It looks like you haven’t seen sunlight in years.”  
   
“Sunlight makes it worse, actually. It, uh…” Belatedly remembering that she didn’t actually know _why_ sunlight was supposedly bad, she switched tracks. “It’s not fun.”  
   
“Oh dear. Will you be okay?”  
   
“We’re in the shade, so I think I’m in the clear.”  
   
“Well, I suppose you would know better than I.” Motioning to the instrument, he smiled a ther once more. “Well then, shall we continue?”  
   
The lesson moved rather quickly from there. Despite not having taught before, Trevor seemed to have a knack for it. On the other hand, getting her illusionary fingers to sync with the strings she was depressing was trickier than she imagined, so her playing speed was stuttering as her movements slowed down to compensate.  
   
“Speed will come with time,” he reassured. “Once you get the motions down it’s just a matter of practice.”  
   
She was also surprised that there was a visual component to music. “How do you ‘read’ music?” she asked, “Isn’t it just sound?”  
   
“Ah, but we can mark down each note and where in a composition it is placed. It is called sheet music. I happen to have a few in my case.” A shuffle of papers. “This is a simple one. See this mark? The shape and position translates into a ‘C’ for a quarter of a note. Once you get used to it you can look at this and hear the whole melody in your head.”  
   
“Amazing!”  
   
“Yes, it’s quite useful. We use it to learn songs that other people made. Though,” he blinked, looking around him suddenly, “I think it would take too long to teach you that right now.”  
   
“Huh?” Astra turned to look as well. The shadows on the trees and buildings had grown long, and the masses of people were about, cheerier and homeward bound. “Oh, it got really late, didn’t it?”  
   
“It seems so.” Trevor gazed at the people rushing by, deep in thought. Turning back to his student, he smiled once again. “How about one more before you go?”  
   
She grinned right back at him. Picking the bow up, she set it back on the strings, ready to go. “What should I play?”  
   
“Hm, well, how about you improvise? You’ve done quite well so far with the ones I’ve shown you.”  
   
Astra hummed. What to play? Something slow, for certain. Calming, perhaps. Unbidden, a memory surfaced. Smiling, she set the bow to the strings and drew it back.  
   
It wasn’t the best, as she was still stumbling with the notes and the speed, but the strings sang their song nonetheless, a melody of ages past. It spoke of calm wonder; a vast, ageless world that was just over the next horizon. ‘Come and see.’, it said, ‘What lies beyond these rolling hills?’ It built up, a crescendo, a singular promise of adventure. So too as it reached its peak, one would also discover what they had searched for. The descent was calmer, almost sleepy. The journey was done, and it was time to rest, it said, and faded into silence.  
   
Trevor applauded, smiling ear to ear. “My word, bravo! You certainly have made astonishing progress, haven’t you?”  
   
“Do you think so? Thank you!” Setting the instrument down, Astra gave it a fond look. “It was really fun.”  
   
“Truly, it is remarkable. The skill you’ve displayed just now, why if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would have thought you had been regularly practicing for a month or two. Yet with only a half days instruction...”  
   
Nodding to himself, Trevor stood up, and extended his hand. Taking it, Astra pulled herself off the bench. “I had been thinking about this during the lesson, and I think that cinched it.”  
   
“What were you thinking about?”  
   
“I have a favor to ask. My time as a musician is all but done. But you, with your natural talent in this field, could very well succeed me.”  
   
“Eh? I don’t understand,” Astra tilted her head. “I need to fight all the gyms, I can’t stay here.”  
   
“I know, and I would never ask you to stop following your dream.” Trevor picked up the violin and bow, storing them within a black box nearby. Turning back to his protege, he held the case out to her. “I merely ask that you take this violin with you, and continue practicing along your journey.”  
   
Astra’s eyes widened in astonishment. “You’re giving me your violin just like that? Why?”  
   
“My affliction is steadily robbing me of any ability to use it,” he looked upon the box with unhidden melancholy, “but you are so young, and a full life awaits you. With a hidden talent such as yours, I would think it a great crime to not nurture it. Nobody ever said you can’t be a trainer _and_ a musician.”  
   
“I- I don’t know what to say.” Reverently, Astra took the case out of his hands. “How can I be a trainer _and_ do this?”  
   
“If you love something, and from the moment you played that song I saw that you do, you can always make time for it.” Reaching over, Trevor patted her head. “You said you needed to finish all those gyms rather quickly, right? All I ask is that once you are done, perhaps you could come visit me here. You could play a song and show me all that you learned.”  
   
She was getting a little misty eyed. Wiping her face with her sleeve, she grinned fiercely. “I’ll play you the best song you’ve ever heard! That’s a promise.”  
   
Trevor chuckled. “I look forward to it. Now, I think you have a challenge to make?”  
   
“Yeah.” Stepping forward, Astra hugged the aging violinist. “Thank you for everything.”  
   
Trevor returned the hug. “It was my pleasure. Take care of yourself now!”  
   
“I will.” Astra waved to him as they began to part ways. “I’ll be back!”  
   
The aging musician gave a brief wave back, and then was gone.  
   
“Tree.” Treecko said, still lounging on the bench.  
   
“Yeah.” Astra replied, looking into the distance. The Gym stood above the other buildings, shining brilliantly in the dying light. “Let’s get going. We’ve got a gym to beat.”  
   
Treecko leapt onto her shoulder, and then they were off.  
 

* * *

  
The petalburg gym was an intimidating sight to behold. Situated in the middle of a large concrete lot encircled by bushes, several stories tall, and hosting a grand ‘GYM’ sign on it’s slanted, tiled roof; it almost radiated a grandiose aura.  
   
Unlike the last time she was here it was fairly populated; a few humans were loitering around the sides of the building, watching a showdown happening in the court outside. A green pokemon that vaguely resembled a Poochyena if it’s head managed to stretch back to its tail was dashing around, firing bolts of electricity into the air. Up above, a giant winged pokemon that was a full two thirds gaping maw was frantically dashing through the sky, avoiding the shots.  
   
Astra watched as the enormous bat made a hasty swerve left when it should have gone right and winced as a sharp crack echoed through the sky. It’s limp form started to fall a moment later, but was caught by a red beam from it’s disappointed trainer to varied cheers and boos from the spectators.  
   
Walking through the automatic doors, the lobby of the Petalburg Gym greeted her with a brush of cool air. Much like the pokemon center, there was a desk in the middle of the lobby manned by a couple of humans. The faint chorus of animalistic noises emanating from the side areas was a marked difference, however.  
   
To the right she could see several dummies being strategically mauled by a wide variety of strange pokemon; all of them were using different methods of clawing, biting and striking them as their humans barked orders. To the left- Astra blinked at the view behind a set of glass panes. Why was there a small lake indoors? A few aquatic pokemon were swimming alongside their trainers. Occasionally one of them would leap out of the water and perform some type of attack on another set of dummies.  
   
Ah, so the gym was also used for training? Good to know. Maybe she could look around after she beat the gym leader.  
   
One of the receptionists was talking to a man in a red jacket, but the other one was idly tapping at a glyph board. Astra approached him and peered above the counter, which was a bit awkward seeing as her diminutive height barely let her see past the edge.  
   
“Hello?”  
   
The sandy-haired man hit a few more glyphs before sighing and plastering on a grin. “Hey there! What can I do for you?”  
   
She flashed him a brilliant smile, though it went unseen under the cloth mask. “I’m here to challenge the gym leader.”  
   
His smile changed to a grimace for a split second as his eyes flicked over her. “Er. Well-” he was interrupted as a voice sounded from the other half of the table.  
   
“Is that a challenger I hear?”  
   
“Hey Norman,” The cashier greeted as Astra turned to look. The man in the red jacket nodded at the cashier, though his gaze remained fixated on her. He was tall, with dark hair and eyes to match. “Yeah, this kid was asking about you.”  
   
“I see.” Crossing his arms, Norman examined his would be challenger. “Hey. I’m Norman, Gym leader of Petalburg City.”  
   
“I’m Astra,” she said, then pointed at him dramatically. “I’m here to challenge you!” she continued with a fierce grin. Finally, the first step towards her goal would be taken-  
   
“I refuse.”  
   
“...” the grin slowly faded off Astras face.  “What?”  
   
“Your challenge is declined.” he explained, as easily as one would shut a door. “You’re not going to fight me today.”  
   
Confusion bubbled away quietly, only to be replaced with a roiling surge of panic. “What!?” she repeated, shock and outrage lending an extra edge to the question. “Why?”  
   
“How long have you been a trainer?” Norman shot back, unimpressed.  
   
“Wh-, I, ah,” Asta stammered, caught off guard. “I, well… since yesterday?”  
   
“Tch, even newer than I thought. A single day with a pokemon and you think you can duke out out with a gym leader?” Norman shook his head. “Have you fought a single battle yet? No, don’t answer, it doesn’t matter.”  
   
“In the end, it comes down to this,” he continued, uncrossing his arms. “You’re too green for me to even bother with. I’m only interested in fighting strong trainers, and right now I wouldn’t even have to say anything for my weakest team to run roughshod all over yours.”  
   
Each word he spoke was like a deathknell echoing through her mind. No, no no no this couldn’t be happening, she didn’t come all this way just to be thrown out the door!  “You don’t understand, I need to beat you and get your badge! I can’t be the champion without it!”  
   
Norman sighed. “I understand that requirement very well. I’m still not going to fight you, it wouldn’t accomplish anything. If you’re so desperate for a badge then go west to Rustboro City, Roxanne is more tolerant of novices than me.” Turning to walk away, he paused to give one last remark, “Once you get four badges, feel free to come back. We’ll see how strong you are then.”  
   
Astra watched him go, thoughts swirling, crashing into each other in a cacophony of nonsense. Distantly, she heard the receptionist attempt to comfort her, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t been close to her goal at all. She hadn’t even taken a single step towards it.  
   
She fled the gym, teeth grit together and tears dampening her mask. 

* * *

   
She sat on a bench outside, idly swinging her legs and watching another duel take place in the courtyard. Her considerable frustration had petered out by now, but the damp spots remained. She rearranged her mask so it wouldn’t irritate her, she sighed.  
   
Norman… she frowned, kicking at a rock. She didn’t like him. Looking down on her just because she was new… ugh. Whatever. Whatever! Just because she didn’t get the badge from that inconsiderate stinkberry didn’t mean anything!  
   
Rustboro. Roxanne. She’d just have to travel there and beat her, and then she would truly be on her way to the champion. She would train, and beat a lot of trainers, and when she came back here she’d beat his face into the dirt! Ha!  
   
She was so busy with that little fantasy that she didn’t notice someone was walking up to her until she heard a voice call out.  
   
“Hey! You wouldn’t happen to be Astra, would you?”  
   
Astra bolted upright. Who-!?  
   
He stood next to the bench, looking at her curiously. He wore a red and black shirt, with black pants under another pair of black shorts (What), had a green headband and white hair- (Wait, no, that was a hat. His hair was black.)- and a green backpack.  
   
She didn’t recognize him, how did he know her name? “Er.” She said, suddenly very self conscious. Did he find her out somehow? “I- I am. How do you know that?”  
   
The human grinned at her affirmation before giving an awkward chuckle at her question. “Ah, my dad told me. You met him yesterday, I think. Professor Birch?”  
   
“Oh. Yeah, I remember him. He’s your dad?”  
   
“Yeah. I hope he wasn’t too embarrassing. He’s really enthusiastic, haha.” he said, scratching his cheek with a finger.  
   
“No, he was fine,” she said, relaxing a bit. “He didn’t say anything about you, though. Who are you?”  
   
He slapped his forehead. “Oh, I completely forgot! Sorry, my name is Brendan. It’s nice to meet you Astra! I heard that you got the Treecko yesterday so I wanted to come over and say hi.”  
   
“Ah, Hello! It’s nice to meet you.”  
   
“Good to meet you too. Do you mind if I sit here? We could hang out for a while.”  
   
“Eh?” Astra squinted at him. “Why?”  
   
Brendan shrugged. “The professors give out pokemon in groups of three, but dad was only able to give out two, one of which I have, and you happened to get the third. People like to say that those who are in the same group are destined rivals. But,“ He added with a smile, “I think that we could be friends too.”  
   
“Friends…” Somehow, Astra hadn’t thought about that. In her imagination, she hadn’t considered the interval between the Now and becoming champion. But she had always stood at that summit alone. Could she really do everything, without talking to anybody at all? Hadn’t she already done that when she took a lesson from Trevor?  
   
It would be a risk, she told herself. A friend was more than a momentary teacher. But the argument seemed hollow. For a moment, she struggled against herself, but really, there could only be one outcome.  
   
“Sure.” she said, giving him a radiant smile. “I guess I wouldn’t mind a friend.”  
   
“Oh, fantastic! I was worried I’d screw this up.” he said, sitting beside her. “So, did you want to talk about anything specific or-”  
   
“Just one question.” She had wanted to ask this since she first spotted him and was dying to know.  
   
“Eh?”  
   
“Why are you wearing two pairs of pants?”  
   
The best part of being an empath, Astra mused, was that she could literally feel the exact moment Brendan’s soul died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHANCE 2017 UPDATE WOOOOOO
> 
> And with 45 minutes to spare! BRING IT THE FUCK ON 2018!


	14. Rival

“...and that’s why two pairs of pants are the pinnacle of fashion and practicality amongst all legwear,” Brendan said, nodding sagely.

 “Oh wow. You’ve really put a lot of thought into this,” Astra said. She was impressed; she had no idea someone could talk for so long about pants. She looked him over again. “It still looks dumb.”

 “Says the girl in a bedsheet,” he grumbled, lightly shoving at her shoulder.

 She shoved him right back. “At least I have an excuse,” she teased. “You’re just blind.”

 “Tch. One day you’ll see. Everyone will be wearing double! It’s the only way to go, really.”

 “As if.”

 They lapsed into a comfortable silence, idly watching another duel between strangers in the courtyard. The match came to a close- Astra let out a cheer when her favored side won- before Brendan spoke up again.

 “I couldn’t help but notice, you seemed kinda… mad, earlier? When you were alone, I mean.”

 Astra’s victorious expression turned sour. “Oh. Yeah. I tried to challenge the gym a little while ago.” Astra kicked another rock, scowling.

 “Ah,” Brendan said, comprehension dawning. “You met Norman, did you? He only got his position a little while ago, but I’ve heard he can be a bit abrasive-”

 “He’s a massive jerk is what he is!” Astra spat, glaring into the concrete. “He basically said I was worth less than dirt!”

 “Yeesh,” he winced. “That’s harsh. I guess you just had bad luck, then. Usually the receptionists turn you away unless you meet the prerequisites. Though,” he continued, tilting his head, “what were you doing challenging a gym so soon? It’s only been one day hasn’t it?”

 “I became a pokemon trainer so I could become the champion. I don’t have a lot of time either, so I needed to challenge the gyms as soon as possible.” She shot another sour look at the gym. “So much for that.”

 “What, like a time limit?” Brendan asked, curious. “That’s odd. What happens if you run out? And for how long? Or- oh man, sorry, is that private?” He stammered, slightly panicked. “You don’t have to answer!”

“No, it’s fine,” she sighed, gaze somber. “I just don’t like worrying about it. If my time runs out… well, at the very least I don’t think I’ll be able to be a pokemon trainer anymore.” She smiled ruefully at her massive understatement. “I don’t know exactly how long I have, I just hope I have enough.”

“Ah man, that sounds rough. I hope it’s not anything too serious…?”

Astra smiled at him reassuringly. “Nothing like that. I’ll be fine for a while. But,” she added, “I don’t want to go into detail.” If anyone found out everything it would be a disaster, after all.

Brendan let out a relieved breath. “Okay. Well, it makes sense that you beelined it here, then. You’d have better chances with Roxanne over in Rustboro. Everybody goes to Rustboro first.”

“Norman said something about that too.” Astra said, leaning forward. “Roxanne is the gym leader there? What’s she like?”

“Oh, she was a former student at the trainer school there. Top of her class from what I heard, joined the gym right after and ascended pretty quickly.” He reclined against the bench, gazing up at the reddening sky as he thought. “She values strategy and tactics more highly than most other Gym leaders, and her Gym focuses on Rock type pokemon. I think she also has a hobby with archaeology?”

“What’s archaeology?”

“The study of historical objects and locations, though I think she just really liked fossils.”

Astra hummed. “What’s a fossil?”

Brendan looked at her, visibly confused. “You’ve never heard of fossils? Um. Well, they’re preserved remnants of things that lived a long time ago. Like, you know,” he waved one hand around empathetically, “Flies trapped in amber, footprints and skeletons embedded in rocks, stuff like that.”

She frowned. “That sounds weird. Why would anyone want a bunch of old dead stuff?”

Brendan shrugged. “Some people like that sort of thing, I guess.”

“Bleh.” Shaking her head, Astra leapt off the bench. “Enough of that. I’m not going to beat Roxanne with a dead rock, I need practice! I came here to fight and I’m going to get one. Brendan!” Said boy blinked as she pointed directly at him. “We’re supposed to be rivals too, right? Well, let’s get started then. I challenge you to a battle!”

Brendan’s eyes sharpened as a grin stole across his features. “Would it surprise you that I was about to suggest that too? You’re on!”

A moment later, and they stood across from each other in a vacant arena.

“I should warn you that I’ve been around pokemon since I was a kid.” Brendan spun his pokeball on his finger, before grasping it and posing dramatically. “I won’t go easy on you just because you’re new.”

Astra smirked. “Give it all you’ve got, I’ll still take you down!”

“We’ll see about that. Mudkip, I choose you!”

“Let’s go, Treecko!”

Two balls soared into the air and twin bolts of energy shot down to the battlefield, resolving into Treecko and a somewhat familiar blue aquatic creature. It had a large blue fin on top of its head, with orange, spikey cheeks and a grey fishtail. Where had…? Oh! It looked like a small version of that blue behemoth in the Professors yard. Was this a predecessor?

“Mudkip, Tackle!” Brendan commended, pointing ahead. Mudkip let out a yipping sound as it started to charge.

Establishing her usual mental connection, Astra quickly laid down a plan of action in the span of a thought. _Deception_.

Treecko grinned. Kneeling into a runners pose, he shot off, heading to meet his opponent in the middle of the field. The distance closed rapidly, both combatants’ focus razor sharp as their opponent closed in.

At the last second, Treecko pivoted to the side and back stepped, Mudkip’s tackle rushing past by a hair. Startled, Mudkip stumbled and started to turn, but Treecko launched himself with a furious cry, slamming into his opponent from behind.

“Mudkip!” Brendan shouted as Treecko sent him skidding across the arena. The fishlike pokemon shook and righted itself in a flash, ready to go once again.

“Mud! Mudkip!” it yipped, pawing at the ground.

Astra’s grin grew winder. Her plan worked! Time to go on the offensive. _Rushdown!_

“Tackle again, Mudkip! Stay on target!”

But Treecko had already started moving before he could finish his command. Even as Mudkip began to move, Treecko was already running fast and accelerating. This time they collided head on, Treecko shoulder checking into Mudkips downturned head. With a grunt of effort and a cry of pain, Treecko’s momentum overrode his opponent's strength and sent Mudkip sprawling once again.

Time to go in for the kill! _Final-_

“Hey, what are you doing?” It took a second for her to realize Brendan had spoken to her. She broke off from Treecko and refocused on him. He was frowning. Why?

“What?”

He glanced between her and Treecko for a moment. “Trainers are supposed to lead their pokemon. You do know that, right?”

Astra blinked. “Of course I do. Why are you bringing that up, do you think I’m doing it wrong or something? So far you’re the one who’s losing.”

Brendan made a frustrated noise. “No, it’s not that! It’s that you _aren’t!_ You haven’t told your Treecko to do a single thing, he’s just going off on his own. It doesn’t matter if he’s winning, that’s not how it works!”

What was he talking about? Astra scowled at him. She was commanding her pokemon just fine! So what if he couldn’t hear her, what did that matter- _they don’t have telepathy_. Astra suddenly felt like slamming her face into the concrete. She made the same mistake _again_. Of course it mattered, nobody else did it!

“W-well,” Astra stumbled slightly. What did she even say? “Just because you can’t hear it doesn’t mean I’m not!”

Brendan made a face. “What, did you put a radio in his ear?”

“No?” She didn’t even know what that _was_. “Maybe I’m just that good.”

He gave her a flat stare. “Good enough to not give your pokemon directions.”

“I’ll let the results speak for themselves!” she deflected. “We’re still fighting!”

Brendan looked like he might argue further, but the moment passed. “Fine. Mudkip, take him down!”

Astra whipped her head back toward the two combatants just in time to see Treecko attempt the same sidestep maneuver as earlier. But Mudkip had learned from its earlier mistake and tilted to the side in tandem, striking Treecko with incredible force.

“Treecko!” Astra cried out as her companion was knocked to the ground.  The gecko pokemon recovered quickly, but was breathing heavily. He wasn’t looking too good, and from only a single hit?

“Don’t let up Mudkip! Tackle barrage!” Brendan commanded. Mudkip heeded his call and began to rush Treecko down yet again.

_Evade!_ Astra called out, hoping to buy some time. Watching as Treecko managed to dodge his opponents wild rushes, sometimes only be a hair, she worried over how to proceed. Now that momentum was lost, how was she going to regain it? This wasn’t in the forest, there were no trees to use for maneuvers or tricks. What did she do?

Her thought process stalled out for a moment, and Treecko faltered. Even if his speed was greater, his endurance wasn’t quite up to par, and so he was too slow to dodge another of Mudkips unrelenting tackles. Astra could only watch as the aquatic pokemon clipped Treecko and send him spinning to the ground yet again.

Astra gritted her teeth. With Mudkips superior strength, contesting with brute force would get her nowhere. But it had wizened up to her tricks, so what else could she do?

“I don’t suppose you have any ideas?” she ruefully asked Treecko during the lull.

Treecko paused and then to Astra’s great suprise, she began to receive crude conceptualized thoughts across the telepathic link. Oh! She hadn’t known this could happen. Her question was rhetorical, but she’d take it. Treecko’s sapience wasn’t fully realized; he wasn’t at the same level of intelligence as her or a human, not by a long shot, but he was clearly smart enough to convey base concepts and emotions.

_Power_. He conveyed at the speed of thought; not in words, but images and meanings. _Drain; Heal, Weaken._

Astra blinked, astonished. Understanding bloomed immediately, and she grinned as a new plan took form. “That’s perfect! Time to turn this battle on its head." _Diminish!_

Only three seconds had passed since Treecko had stood. Mudkip reared back, shouting a challenge to it’s opponent. “Mudkip mud!”

“Let’s finish this, Mudkip,” Brendan cheered, “Knock her pokemon down, once and for all!”

As Mudkip charged, Treecko crouched down and focused intently. The thundering steps increased in tempo as Mudkips momentum built to an all time high, and yet Treecko was undeterred. At the last second, when Mudkip was a mere instant away from bowling Treecko down, he leapt; grabbing the fin on mudkips head, Treecko swung himself around and landed on his opponents back. Mudkip screeched as he tripped and skidded upon the pavement, thrown off balance by the maneuver and sudden weight.

“What the-!?” Brendan gasped, voice tinged with panic “How did- Mudkip, shake him off!”

But Treecko was not done yet. With a surge of power, tiny, needle like thorns sprouted from the ends of his fingers. Glowing green, he slammed it into the side of Mudkips head and _tore_.

Mudkip _screamed_ as rivulets of green energy were drained out of his body, and thrashed upon the ground wildly. Over and over Treecko was smashed upon the ground as Mudkip tried to shake him off, but even as Astra watched, the green energy that Treecko was pulling out was absorbed into his body, visibly mending all the cuts and bruises.

“Mudkip! No! Get rid of him!”

But despite Brendans frantic commands, Treecko was latched on tight and continued his grim task. In a matter of moments Mudkips wild flailing slowed, a dim lethargy overtaking it’s senses. It’s crying dimmed, it’s movements finally ceased, and then it was over. Treecko disentangled itself from his opponents unconscious form and crowed to the sky.

Victory.

A beam of red light overtook Mudkips form as Brendan recalled it, sighing. Treecko had already returned to Astra, climbing into her arms.

“Good work!” she praised, stroking him, the little gecko visibly preening.

“Well, that was embarrassing.” Brendan shook his head. He tapped out a few buttons on his pokedex, and Astra grinned as her funds were replenished. “Beaten by a new trainer who didn’t even give out any commands. I guess I still have a lot of work to do.”

Astra’s reply was cut off by the sound of slow clapping. Astra looked around, but didn’t see the source. Brendan, however, looked right past her in astonishment before slowly lowering his face into his palms.

“Ugh,” he grumbled. “I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?”

“Nope!” a voice sang from behind, radiating amusement. “I’m gonna milk this one for _weeks_.”

Astra turned around and almost dropped Treecko out of shock. A girl stood behind her, leaning against the entrance to the gym. Her face was ringed by long, brown hair, with blue eyes and a mischievous grin. She wore a red bandana over her scalp which tied in the back, a red jacket and oddly blue spats, alongside a small tan pack on her hip.

She had also been there, that moment two days ago when everything had changed. She remembered it well; standing behind that green haired human, an expression betraying boredom and annoyance as a zigzagoon barreled down at her. Astra froze completely, eyes wide as the girl sauntered over, one hand on her hip.

“I mean, really?” she mocked, waving a hand in her direction, “What kind of rival loses to some kid who doesn’t even talk?”

“May,” he grumbled. “I don’t need this right now.”

May(?) laughed. “Nah, what you need is a good kick in the ass. I guess growing up with a professor doesn’t mean you know how to fight, eh?” She moved closer and elbowed him in the side, not sparing Astra a glance as she passed.

He shot her a glare. “I know how to fight! I just need more experience. Mudkip was at a disadvantage anyway, you know he’s weak to grass moves.”

“Weaknesses didn’t help you against Torchic back on 102,” May countered, maintaining her massive grin.

“He didn’t know any water moves back then,” Brendan defended. “I couldn’t take advantage of it!”

“Excuses!”

Astra stood to the side awkwardly as they bickered. Who was this girl? How did Brendan know her? He had mentioned that the professor had given out three pokemon. Was she the last of their trio?

“Um,” she interjected, “Hello?”

Both of them blinked and turned to her. May squinted. “What do you want? You won, battle’s over. Go away.”

“May! Don’t be a jerk.” Brendan chided before turning back to Astra. “Sorry about that. Astra, this is May. She moved next door to me a little while ago. She’s a rival of mine, and the last part to our trio. May,” he turned back to the girl, who looked confused, “This is Astra. She visited the Professor yesterday and picked up Treecko.”

May scowled. “Trio? You buy into that old fairy tale? Whatever.” Crossing her arms, May looked Astra up and down, a vague interest sparking in her eyes. “Well, I guess you beat Brendan, and that’s good enough for me. So!”

Cutting herself off, she strode over and planted herself in front of Astra, a shark like grin plastered across her face. “Nice to meet you, shorty. Names May.” She held out a fist, waiting expectantly.

“N-nice to meet you too?” she stuttered, memories of their first encounter flashing through her head. “I’m Astra.” She looked at the fist, confused. What was she supposed to do with that? “I…”

Behind May, Brendan looked amused and vaguely exasperated. He held both of his fists up and mimed bumping them into each other. Oh, some odd form of greeting, she supposed. Grateful, Astra repeated the action, balling up her hand and connecting with Mays. “Nice to meet you too.”

She leaned to the side, one hand upon her hip. “I saw the tail end of the fight, you have some nice moves. That said, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but seeing as you beat up poor, weak Brendan over there-” She said, pointing a thumb backwards.

“Hey!”

“-I’m obligated to beat your ass into paste.”

Astra took a moment to process that, dumbfounded. “What?”

“I’m the only one allowed to defeat Brendan.” she explained, still grinning. “Since he’s my rival, it makes me look bad when just _anyone_ can walk over him. Though, according to that big nerd-”

_“Hey!”_

“-you’re supposed to be my rival too. I suppose that makes it a bit better, but not by much since, after all…” she shrugged, tilting her head, “Doesn’t that mean I have even more reason to fight?”

“I guess?” Astra didn’t really understand her logic. Still, if she wanted a battle, she was all too willing! A small part of her was viciously pleased by the opportunity to enact a bit of revenge. Just as she opened her mouth to accept the challenge, a thought occurred, making her hesitate. Shouldn’t Treecko rest a bit, first?

“Um, I would accept, but I just got done fighting with Brendan. I should-”

“What?” May interrupted incredulously, “Flaking out because your pokemon has a few scrapes? He’s fine, especially after that bigass absorb he did.”

“Tree!” Treecko even seemed to agree with her, wriggling out of Astras arms and leaping to the ground. “Ko ko!” he said, hopping on his feet. It seemed he really was good to go.

“Well, I guess I’m ready to fight after all.” Astra smiled at Treecko before turning a glinting eye toward May. “You’re on!”

“That’s what I like to hear,” May cheered, striding back to the other side of the field. Brendan shot her a wary look before moving to the benches. “Let me show you how a real trainer does things. Torchic, go!” she called, tossing her pokeball into the air.

When the light faded, a loud chirp signified the arrival of a small beaked bird, feathers the color of flame covering its body. “Torchic!” it chirped, hopping around.

“Right, I’m counting on you Treecko!” Astea called, sending her pokemon back into the fray.  Treecko moved into position, but with far more trepidation than Astra expected. She blinked at Treecko’s sudden lack of bravado, replaced by a sense of wariness and… fear?

“Woo!” Brendan shouted from the sidelines. “Take her down!”

May twitched at his words, then glared at the bystander. “You better be cheering for me!” she yelled, shaking a fist at him.

Brendan looked away, whistling innocently.

“Tch. Whatever.” Rolling her eyes, May looked back at her opponent. “Well? Come on, then!”

“Not going to make a move?”

May smirked, leaning to the side again. “I’ll be nice and let you go first. You’re going to need it.”

Astra scowled. How condescending can this girl get? Fine then. Fine! Switching her attention to Treecko, she directed him into the fray once more. _Drain!_

Treecko seemed to hesitate for a split second, but shot off regardless. Needles covered in glowing green energy once more sprouted from his hands as he darted across the concrete, closing in on the chirping Torchic. Leaping into the air, he descended upon his hapless opponent!

It came as a complete surprise when Torchic didn’t even attempt to dodge. Treecko’s hand slammed home, the needles digging into torchics side.

Astra stared, flummoxed as May didn’t make a move as her pokemon was attacked. What was she doing!? Her musing was cut short as Treeckos frustrated cry caught her attention; his hand was still digging into his opponent, but it didn’t appear to be doing much of anything at all to Torchic. In fact, it seemed like it was only irritated? Why!?

May sighed, shaking her head. “Torchic, ember.”

Astra could only sense Treeckos panic for a split second before Torchic opened his beak, but by that time it was too late. A stream of red hot _fire_ blazed forth, engulfing Treecko in a swath of blistering heat. It lasted only for a moment, but it was enough. Treecko screeched, falling to the ground as the fire licked at his body, black soot covering him head to toe.

_PAIN_

“Treecko!” Astra gasped, the extent of his agony coming across the link in full force. “Treecko, no! Please get up!”

“Peck.”

Torchic chirped, hopping over to it’s writhing opponent. With a swift motion its beak drilled into Treeckos head, mercifully ending the charred pokemons struggles. With only two moves exchanged, it was over.

Astra numbly recalled treecko, hands shaking. Her mind was blank, replaying that scene over and over again. It wasn’t the brutality that bothered her (though it wasn’t pleasant); Treecko had been battered before, that wasn’t the issue.

It was the sheer, infuriating _ease_ in which May had won. She had scored a direct hit with Treecko’s new special move and it hadn’t done a thing, while she had taken him out in one attack. How could she be so much stronger; hadn’t she just gotten her pokemon recently as well?

Astra closed her eyes, sighing. A little more experience counted for this much, did it? What were they talking about before she interrupted? Some pokemon were weak to specific attacks? The admission was bitter to the taste, but she had to admit; maybe Norman had a point. She had a lot to learn after all.

A loud sigh from her left breaks her out of her thoughts as Brendan steps back into the arena. “Did you have to go that hard on her? She just started yesterday.”

May shrugged, having transferred Torchic to the crook of her arm. “Type advantage is a bitch. But, I guess. Maybe next time, Astra!”

Astra gave her a weak grin. “Yeah. Next time.”

Brendan patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t feel too bad. May is really good. She beat me on our first day too, and I grew up with a pokemon professor.”

Astra nodded, side eyeing Brendan. “I guess- wait, you lost to both of us, and I’ve only been in one battle before this. Are you sure you’re not just bad?”

Brendan’s pained look was a sight to behold, as was May’s sudden riotous laughter.

“Astra! You can’t just go and murder someone like that!” she wheezed. “He has a family!”

“Haha, very funny,” he deadpanned over Astra’s giggle. “Laugh it up. See if I ever comfort you again. Ungrateful, grumble mumble.”

“Anyway!” May proclaimed, pulling both Astra and Brendan close, arms locked around their shoulders. “I’ve got a massive hunger that can only be solved with delicious food. Who’s down for sushi?”

Astra perked up. More strange human food? If it was anywhere as good as ice cream, she was willing to take a hundred losses. “I am!”

“Eh, sure. Sushi sounds good.” Brendan agreed.

“Fantastic! You two are paying.” The resulting glares could melt through stone. May laughed. “Hey now, losers gotta pay! I ran past a place earlier today that looked decent. Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about three months too early for May, but it turns out May does whatever the fuck she wants so WELP.
> 
> May is also not Anime!May. Here shes a little more... hotheaded? Yeah.
> 
> Anyhow, I hope you enjoy my incoherent scribbling!


End file.
